Little Wonders
by WhoviansTARDIS
Summary: 100 one-shots inspired on 100 titles. All based on two people. Rose Tyler and the Duplicate Doctor. This is their life after they had been left on the parallel universe together.
1. A Waiting Room

**I came up with this idea ages ago... and yes my other story is well overdue and i will finish that and get it up as soon as i can, but i cant seem to find the time at the moment what with school just started and all my teachers piling tonnes of homework on me! But i did however manage to find time to write this little one shot that will soon be a collection of 100 one shots based on the life of Rose and 10.5 in the parallel universe! :) All these one shots are based on 100 titles, but at the moment i have only come up with 40 titles. So if you have any suggestions, please leave them in a little review!**

**Unfortunatly i do not own Doctor who i am just borrowing a few characters to make my own story :) i will put them back in the TARDIS when i am finished with them :)**

**On with the reading! :)**

* * *

1. A Waiting Room

Rose Tyler watched her boyfriend fidget in his seat. She shook her head slightly, a small smile appearing on her lips.

"Honestly. Anyone would think you were a five year old." She whispered in his ear. His head snapped round to face her, a scowl on his face. "Dr Christian doesn't bite." Rose explained.

"My old Dr did…" The Doctor, or rather John Smith as he was more commonly known now, mumbled as he began to fidget again. "My Dr, back on Gallifrey. He used to bit me, really hard when I 'misbehaved'." He moaned. Rose rolled her eyes, yet she couldn't help but feel sorry for this man who was so scared of a simple check-up.

"Well this is Earth. And our Dr's don't bite." Rose confirmed. John turned to his girlfriend with a look of uncertainty.

"Why are you making me do this?" He complained.

"I told you this morning." Rose began. "Me and mum registered you here at our doctors surgery to help make your human life seem more believable and they asked you in for a quick check-up. That's all." When she saw the pained look on John's face she continued. "It's standard procedure John. I mean look…" She motioned to everyone else in the waiting room. There were about 6 or 7 pensioners, a couple of parents with teenagers and children, a woman crying into the chest of the man sat next to her, a couple of mum's with pushchairs and/or toddlers on their lap and a couple of middle-aged people reading magazines or books. None of them looked remotely worried. "These people aren't scared of visiting the Dr." She looked back at John who was nodding his head.

"I can do this." He whispered.

"That's the spirit." Rose smiled as she took his hand.

* * *

10 minutes later, John was fidgeting again. Rose was on her mobile, texting just about everyone on her contact list. A few people had been called into see different Dr's but John and Rose were still waiting.

"John… Stay still." Rose warned, not looking up from her mobile. She was getting annoyed with John's childish behaviour.

"I. Can't." John replied.

"If you don't you can sleep on the sofa tonight!"

"But…" John's mouth fell open. "…but… your dad's sleeping on it at the moment!" He was referring to the argument Pete and Jackie had, had over which cookies should go in the cookie jar. And because Pete had got his way, Jackie had made him sleep on the sofa. And that's where he's been for the past three nights.

"I know. But you'll be joining him soon if you don't keep still." Rose threatened. John  
heaved a loud sigh, making Rose tut, before placing his chin in the palm of his hand.

* * *

A few minutes later, one of the receptionists walked into the waiting room and looked at everyone.

"Ladies and gentlemen," She addressed them. "I am sorry to inform you that there is a 50 minute delay for any of Dr Christian's patients." There were a few groans and a loud 'WHAT?!' from John, but the woman continued. "And there is a 30 minute delay for Dr Simpsons patients. We are sorry for the wait and we shall keep you updated with any changes to the delays." And with that she left, walking back to her seat at the front desk. When everyone thought she was out of earshot, they all went into heated, whispered discussions.

"Rose! Please. Let's go. We've got another 50 minutes. We'll come back next week." John pleaded, wanting out of the waiting room ASAP.

"Oh, no! You are seeing this Dr. Like it or lump it!" Rose smiled as she placed her phone away and picked up a nearby magazine.

* * *

When the receptionist returned to the waiting room 5 minutes later, everyone turned their head in her direction – hoping for some good news. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could get her words out, John had stood up.

"I can't take this anymore!" He yelled. He walked out of the waiting room, out of the reception and right out the main door. He stood by a nearby wall and crossed his arms, waiting for Rose.

* * *

Rose came out a few minutes later looking both embarrassed and angry.

"What was all that about?" She asked, pointing back to the Dr's surgery.

"I can't do it! Did you not see the way everyone was looking at me?" He replied, almost angrily.

"Of course I did! They were all looking at you because you acted out! You acted like a six year old! Do you know how embarrassing that is?" Rose yelled. She wanted to grab John and shake him. He needed to see how silly he was being.

"Oh. So I'm embarrassing now, am I?" John yelled back.

"At the moment, yeah!" There was a slight pause. "Now I want you to get back in that waiting room and apologize to everyone. Then you will sit down and wait for the Dr to call you." Rose yelled at him firmly. John crossed his arms.

"No." He replied simply.

"No?!" Rose was outraged.

"I am not going back in there, where people will hurt me – just because they think I'm ill."

"John, no-one here is going to hurt you. I promise! They just want to make sure that everything is working how it should!"

"I dunno. Those Dr people look pretty scary."

"Where is he?" Rose asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"What?" John dropped his arms to his sides. He was confused. "Where is who?"

"Where is the man I fell in love with Doctor?"

John stared at her wide eyed. It had been months since she'd called him 'Doctor'; his real, original name. He gulped.

"I… I'm right here." He could see Rose's eyes shining with tears. He hated when she cried. Those tears made him do whatever she wanted.

"No. Where's the man who would smile and laugh in the face of danger? Where's the man who would make rude comments to anyone and everyone and not even realise he's doing it? Where's the man who would battle aliens every other day and act like it was a game of snakes and ladders? Where's the man who would jump at any chance of running, just because he loved it and 99% of the time his life was at stake? Where's the man who dared take on the devil and all gods at the same time? Where's the man who's afraid of nothing? Where is he John? Because right now, I need a… I need my Doctor." She finished her speech with a single tear drop.

"Oh… you mean _him_." H said the last word with such hatred. "He's off gallivanting across the whole of space and time in a parallel universe." He mumbled. He looked down, feeling worse.

"No." Rose cut across him. "Because, you were right. He is right in front of me." John looked up at Rose. "Please Doctor." Rose stepped forward and placed her hands on either side of his chest were he had once had two hearts. "Do this for me." John nodded and wrapped his arms round Rose's shoulders, pulling her close. Every time he thought she was wanted his other self he would lose everything. Then she would make it clear that it was him he wanted and his world would be one piece again.

"Sorry." He whispered in her ear as he ran a hand through her golden hair. Rose pulled out of the hug and smiled at him, showing he was forgiven.

* * *

They walked back into the waiting room, hand in hand. John apologized for his sudden outburst and they both took a seat. John was still nervous, but he pretended to look and act like he wasn't. When John was called into Dr Christian's office 10 minutes later, Rose asked him if he wanted her to go along with him. He had declined, wanting to show Rose that he could do it without panicking. Rose smiled as she watched her boyfriend walk into the Dr's room all by himself, a determined look on his face. She went back to the waiting room and began texting once more.

When John reappeared 15 minutes later, Rose pocketed her mobile. She noticed that John had a small, round, purple object on a stick, in his hand. He smiled and waved at Rose. He held up the object for Rose to see.

"We should come here more often! They give out free lollipops!"

* * *

**Well thanks for reading. I really hope you liked that. I like to imagine that the reason the Doctor choose the name 'Doctor' was cus he was afraid of them and hoped that naming himself it would help overcome his fear. I've always had that idea but never really shared it with anyone before. So i thought it was a nice idea to write it down in this! :) i really hoped you like it! **

**Again like i said, if you can think of any titles to help with this story, i would be forever greatful! **

**Please review and tell me what you think! :)**

**thanks once again! **


	2. A Bad Dream

**HELLO! i love you all so much! Have some vertual bananas! :D Thank you so much for the few that reviewed, favorited and alerted! I cant thank you enough! I have nothing else to say but... these characters are not mine (Still borrowing them though) and heres the second chapter. **

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**2. A bad dream**

John was sat on the sofa watching the TV which wasn't on very loud. He was dressed in baggy P.J bottoms and I loose t-shirt that read '_sleep is for workers!_'

As it was everyone was asleep, except John, who decided (at 3am) that he had too much on his mind to sleep. He had trudged downstairs and turned the TV on. He had no idea what he was watching but he didn't care, he wasn't taking it in. There was one thing that was really bugging him, and he needed to sort it out, he just didn't know how to.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't hear little padded feet coming down the stairs. He didn't even notice when the owner of these feet was stood beside him.

"Uncle John?" Said the owner of the feet. John jumped out of his skin before he placed his hand on his heart and turned to look at the small boy beside him.

"God Tony! You scared me!" He whispered, catching his breath. "What's wrong?" He asked the boy who had begun to cry.

"I had a bad dream!" He wailed through his silent tears. John patted the seat on the sofa next to him and Tony climbed up. John's arms went automatically round the small boy who began to cry in his 'Uncles' chest.

"Want to talk about it?" He asked, pulling the six year old onto his lap. Tony nodded. "Okay what happened?" He asked softly, drying Tony's tears.

"There were…. Aliens. And they tried to… tried to… they tried to… eat me." He whispered grabbing his Spiderman P.J top and placing it in his mouth.

"Now, I'm not going to lie to you." John started. "There are lots and lots of aliens out in the universe." This did not help calm Tony. "But most of them want to be your friend!" Tony looked at John, not too sure whether to believe him. "And those aliens that might want to hurt you never would. Do you know why?"

"Why?" the small boy asked, still chewing his P.J top.

"Because they're all scared of me."

"Really?"

"Really, really." John smiled. "I used to be an alien…" he added quietly.

"Are you going to eat me?" Tony asked, his eyes now swimming in fresh tears.

"No." John laughed shaking his head. "No-one is going to eat you while I'm alive." He told him with a small smile. It took a minute or two before Tony believed him and nodded his head. "Now is there anything else you want to ask me?" John asked, recognising the glint in the boy's eyes. Tony nodded. "What is it?"

"When are you going to marry Rosie?" He asked smiling, apparently forgetting that less than 10 minutes ago he had, had a nightmare. John's cheeks reddened at the personal question. He had made the mistake of telling Tony last week that he wanted to marry his sister. And ever since then Tony had pestered him wanting to know when they were going to marry.

"I… I… um… I dunno Tony." John mumbled, his cheeks reddening even more.

"Can you marry her tomorrow?" Tony asked

"Um… no… I need to ask her first…"

"Why?"

"Well… because she might not want to marry me." John mumbled, hoping that she did.

"She does! She told me last night!"

"Did she?" John asked, not too sure whether to believe this little boy or not.

"Yeah! She did!" There was a pause. "When are you going to have babies?"

"I think we need to get you to bed." John said quickly, standing up.

"Why?" Tony asked also standing.

"Because if your mum finds you out of bed, not only will you be in trouble – I will be too!" John pressed, his cheeks redder than he could ever remember them being. He took hold of Tony's hand and turned round to walk him up the stairs but stopped when he saw who was stood in the doorway. He froze.

"Tony. Off to bed please." Pete told his only son. Tony waved to his father and so called 'Uncle' before he took to the stairs, heading to his bedroom. When Pete thought that Tony was out of ear shot he turned to John. "Sit." He motioned to the sofa which he had just stood. John did what he was told, growing more embarrassed by every minute. Pete took a seat on an armchair, which was positioned almost exactly to the left of the sofa. Pete looked at John and they sat staring at each other for a few minutes, the silence enveloping them.

"How much of that did you hear?" John asked, breaking the silence.

"Enough." Pete stated. John gulped. He did not want Pete to start lecturing him about how he should ask him permission if he wants to marry 'his little girl' and about how he shouldn't be telling these things to Tony. But none of that came. Instead, Pete's face broke into a smile. His face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Go for it!" He told John, hardly being able to contain his excitement.

"What?" John knew full well what he meant, but was so shocked by his opinion of the situation that he didn't know what else to say.

"Ask her!" He smiled. "Make my little girl yours!" He beamed. John was still in shock to say anything and just sat there, dumbstruck. "She waited two years for you to come back, and then when she found you again – she nearly lost you…" John gulped. He didn't like to remember. "And then the other you gave her… you…" Pete stopped, going over his previous sentence in his head, making sure it made sense. When he decided that it did, he continued. "And now she's waited two years again, waiting every moment for you to ask her the big question." He finished. John still didn't know what to say. He just sat in the silence going over what Pete had just told him. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again. "I'll leave it at that." Pete smiled as he stood up. "Maybe you should go to bed and mull it over. Even though I know you've already made your decision." He winked and walked out the room. A second later, John heard him climbing the stairs and sat on the sofa for a minute longer before he turned towards the almost muted TV. He grabbed the remote which was sat beside him and switched it off before he stood up and made his way up the stairs, still thinking about what Pete had told him. Had she really waited for him for around 4 years? Waited for two years to show again (even though she knew she couldn't) and then waited, and is still waiting, for him to ask the question? He paused as he came to the bedroom in which he and Rose slept in. The door was pulled shut and silence was coming from inside the room. He walked in quietly and stood for a moment watching Rose sleep. She was beautiful and John had to admit he had the love bug. He had it really bad. He shut the door before he made his way over to the bed and climbed in beside Rose and pulled the covers over him. Rose stirred from the moment and slowly opened her eyes.

"John?" She mumbled.

"Yeah…" He smiled as she said his name. She turned round to face her boyfriend.

"Where've you been?" She asked, still half asleep.

"Downstairs. I couldn't sleep so I went to watch some TV." He told her truthfully.

"Wake me next time." She told him as she moved closer to him.

"Okay." He smiled, knowing he wouldn't, as he put his arms round her and started drawing circles on her back. He was drawing old Galliferyan letters on her back that would read on paper 'I love you'. It greatly relaxed her and she sort of dozed off a little, trying to keep her eyes open.

"Rose…" He started.

"Mm…"

"Do you love me?" He asked seriously?

"Yeah…" she mumbled into his chest. "Why?"

"I just wondered… Rose…" He waited for her reply, but never got one. Instead the sound that came his way was her heavy breathing, indicating that she had fallen back to sleep. He smiled. It was a typical thing for Rose to do. He kissed her forehead and moved so he had his head on the pillows with Rose still led on his chest.

"I love you Rose Tyler… and tomorrow, I'm going to ask you to marry me…" And with that his eyes closed and he fell asleep. Rose however, opened her eyes slightly and smiled brightly.

* * *

**And there you have it! i really hope you enjoyed that! I really liked writing this one shot! I hope you enjoyed reading it! Please review and tell me what you think! :D It would mean the world. And if you have any titles to help with this story, please share them! I need tonnes! :)**


	3. A pair of shoes

**Can't believe this is up so early! Only started it 2 hours ago! I'm proud of myself. In this chapter we see a bit of Pete and Jackie... so i hope you don't mind! **

**I'm still borrowing these charaters! I promise to give them back when i'm finished! :)**

**enjoy...**

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**3. A Pair of Shoes**

John and Rose were stood in the hallway, getting ready for work. John (who was first in command) had asked everyone in earlier today as they had a really big story they needed to cover up. However, John wasn't doing so well with the extra early morning. And Rose (second in command) could see that. This morning, as Rose was brushing her hair, John could not tie his tie. He was still half asleep. Rose placed her hairbrush down and turned to her fiancé.

"Look at you!" She exclaimed. She motioned to his wonky, not properly tied tie, his wonky collar, his shirt which wasn't tucked in properly, his morning hair style, and his pin striped jacket suit which wasn't buttoned up.

"What?" John asked as looked himself up and down. "I was up all night!"

"Don't lie!" Rose laughed. "I tossed and turned all night and every time I woke up – you were snoring your head off!" Rose smiled at his appalled look.

"Was not!" He mumbled as he tried, once again to tie his tie. Rose tuted and walked towards him to help him. But he backed away. "No! I can do it!" He hated people helping him with such simple things. He just wouldn't accept it. Rose stood there for a moment watching him struggle before he lifted his head and looked at Rose with his puppy dog eyes. "Help?" He asked. Rose smiled a knowing smile and began her work, making it look as easy as 1, 2, 3.

She quickly tied his tie and sorted out his wonky collar. She made quick work of tucking his shirt in. Then she went to his hair and pushed his hair back so that his hair looked so out of place. John sighed as he looked up as if he could see his hair. As Rose was buttoning up his jacket he raised his hand and ruffled his hair to make it look like it usually did – as if he had just woke up. When Rose was finished she pointed to his feet. He looked down and smiled at his odd socks. He wiggled his toes and looked up at Rose with a massive grin.

"Don't you like them?" He asked.

"I didn't say that. But I did buy you some new ones yesterday! Why aren't you wearing them?" She asked.

"They're boring!" He exclaimed. "Life needs a little colour now were not travelling the stars." They both went quiet and looked at the floor as he said this. They both missed the travelling so much and would both go down memory lane when anyone mentioned it. "I'll put my shoes on." John stated as he went to the shoe rack for his shoes. Rose quickly went back to the mirror hanging by the front door as she started brushing her hair again. "Rose!" John hissed. "Where are my shoes?" He asked.

"I dunno. They're your shoes!" She replied now running a hairbrush through her hair. John began running round the house in search of his shoes, looking everywhere, wanting to find them quickly. In the living room he began lifting the cushions off the sofa and checking in the draws full of paperwork. Then he proceeded to look in the kitchen when he looking in the empty cookie jar and the fridge and he even checked in a cereal box.

Rose, who hadn't moved from the hall, was fiddling with the blue diamond engagement ring, which John had brought her a week ago. He had asked her to marry him while they were facing their possible death at work the day after she had heard him promise he would ask her. She smiled at the memory. It was magical moment. They had been facing a fleet of Cybermen and he suddenly turned to look at her while the metal men were screaming 'DELETE, DELETE, DELETE!" And had asked her to marry him over all the noise. She had screamed yes and they began to hug just as the Cybermen started shooting at them. Luckily their teammates were right behind the Cybermen and began shooting them all dead. They were all shocked to see Rose and John kissing right in the middle of the road.

"Rose!" John sounded exasperated as he came back into the hall, after checking in the oven. "I can't find them!"

"Have you tried upstairs?" Rose asked. John shook his head and began jumping up the stairs, 3 at a time. Rose shook her head. It was like she was talking to a teenager – he really wasn't used to normal life.

Upstairs John was checking in the bathroom in the dirty washing basket but froze when he came across one of Jackie's bras and stopped looking in there straight away. When he went into his and Rose's bedroom he started looking anywhere he could get his hands on. In between the clothes in the cupboard, under the newly made bed, in all the bedside draws, under the rug, between the computer and the printer and anywhere else he could imagine them being. He let out a frustrated sigh and sat on the bed. Suddenly a knock came at the door. John looked up quickly and turned his head to the door.

The door slowly opened and in walked Jackie.

"What's with all the noise?" She asked quietly. She had a dressing gown on and her hair was all bushy where it hadn't been brushed.

"I can't find my shoes!" John mumbled as Rose climbed the stairs. Rose appeared in the doorway and sighed when she saw the room that met her eyes.

"John I just cleared up this room yesterday!" She exclaimed. Jackie didn't seem to hear Rose as she continued to look at John.

"And that gives you the right to wake the whole house?" Jackie asked.

"Mum, he didn't mean to!" Rose started – sticking up for John.

"No I'm serious Rose! It's half 5 in the morning!" As Jackie said this, Pete's face appeared behind the mass of blond hair.

"Mum, we've got work!" Rose continued.

"What's going on?" Pete asked.

"John's lost his shoes." Rose said, looking at her dad.

"Yeah and in the process, woken us all up." Jackie added, also looking at Pete.

"I know Jackie…" Pete mumbled although nobody heard him as Rose turned back to her mum.

"He didn't mean to!" She repeated.

"I don't care. It's too early! I'm surprised Tony… Ah there he is!" Jackie pointed down the landing where Tony was walking towards them all in hi Batman P.J's.

"What's happened?" He asked as he managed to squeeze himself through his mum, dad and sister to face his soon to be brother-in-law.

"Uncle John has lost his shoes!" Jackie repeated. Tony smiled.

"I do that all the time!" He beamed.

"Has anyone seen my shoes?!" John asked standing up. Everyone fell silent.

"Hunny…" Rose started. "Where did you last see them?"

"Last night! On the shoe rack!"

"And you're sure there not there?"

"Defiantly."

"All right. I say we split up and look for them." Pete suggested. Jackie turned round to look at him.

"You are not serious?"

"Oh I'm deadly serious. The poor bloke needs to get to work!"

"I'm going back to bed." Jackie stormed out the room and walked into the room next door.

"Just ignore her. She's not a morning person." Pete smiled lightly at John. He had a soft spot for John, and everyone knew it. "Right. Tony, go look for Uncle John's shoes in the kitchen and hallway please. Rose, you take the living room and the downstairs bathroom (I have no idea why they would be in there but knowing this man, they could be anywhere). And me and John will tackle the upstairs." Everyone went off to their acquired destination and began looking for the missing shoes.

* * *

Half an hour later they were all sat around the kitchen table (Jackie included after helping to find the shoes after 10 minutes of not being able to sleep).

"This is hopeless." Rose sighed.

"I told him…" Jackie started. She was refusing to talk to John at the minute as he had woken her up. "I told him that he needed two pairs of shoes. But, NO! Mr perfect doesn't need that many pairs!"

"Mum… stop it. You're making the situation 10 times more awkward." Rose told her. Tony was happily eating a bowl of coco pops, not minding that the shoes were lost.

"Now come on. We've all gotta think. Where on earth could these shoes be?" Pete said, braking up the conversation between Rose and Jackie. The table fell silent again before Rose stood up.

"I'll call the hub. They'll want to know where we are." She told them as she walked out the room.

Pete and Jackie began talking about where the shoes could be and Jackie even suggested heading to a 24 hour shop and buying a pair of cheap shoes. But John, who had been silent since they had been at the table, was looking at Tony. He hadn't stopped watching the boy since he had started to eat his cereal.

"Tony…" John started, silencing Pete and Jackie. "Where are they?" Tony looked up.

"Where… where are what?" Tony asked.

"I know you've got them." John stated. Pete caught on.

"Tony. Go get you're godfathers shoes please."

"But…"

"Tony!" Pete warned. Tony slid off his seat and began walking up the stairs. "See, this is why we made you his godfather." Pete mumbled turning back to look at John. John smiled. He thought he made a pretty good godfather to Tony. And he loved the Tyler's for giving him the opportunity to be part of their family.

Rose came back into the room and sat at the table.

"Where's Tony?" She asked.

"Gone to get John's shoes." Jackie mumbled into her cup of coffee. At that Tony came down with John's converse. He handed them to John who took them with a loud 'HA!' and hurried to place them on his feet.

"Where were they Tony?" Jackie asked turning to her only son.

"In my bedroom…" He admitted. "I was going to paint them pink." He added in almost a whisper. The whole table, except John burst out laughing.

10 minutes later John and Rose were off to work.

"Remind me to buy another pair of converse later." John told Rose as they got in the car.

"You wait till you see the team's reaction when I tell them the real reason we were late!" Rose smiled. John looked at her.

"You wouldn't dare!" He smiled.

"Wouldn't I?!"

John pulled out of the drive, now a whole hour later than they wanted to be. Both John and Rose were laughing all the way to the torchwood hub while back at the Tyler house, Jackie couldn't find her shoes.

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**Hope you liked this, i did... but im not to sure what everyone else will make of it... Please review and tell me what you think! ;D It would mean the universe! :) also, i'm still waiting for titles to help with this story! :)**


	4. An Item Left Too Long In Your Fridge

**Really sorry for the wait guys! But i've had tonnes of homework and i have been greving over Amy and Rory's depature! I mean come on! DID ANYONE ELSE SEE IT?! I CRIED MY EYES OUT! Well besides homework and Doctor who, and crying uncontrollably (MOFFAT!) i have mamaged to write little parts of this... Doctor who still don't belong to me but i plan to own it in the future! :) **

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**4. An Item Left Too Long In Your Refrigerator**

As soon as John got home Thursday evening he went straight to the kitchen. He was starving and just wanted to eat. He had not eaten since lunch time as he had been working so hard at work. Rose had gone home early to see to her mum, who refused to do the weekly shopping without help, and they desperately needed food. And so when John pulled open the refrigerator his face broke into a smile at all the food stocked in there. He grabbed as much as he could and stuffed some food in his pockets. Then, with his arms full, he walked over to the clean table in the middle of the kitchen and emptied his arms and pockets and looked at the contents. There was everything from cheese and tomato, to chocolate bars and squirty cheese. He then went over to the cupboards and pulled down the bread, the peanut butter and chocolate spread.

A few minutes later he was well into the making of his sandwich. He started off simple with butter, cheese, ham and tomato. But then he felt bold enough to add a sprinkling of squirty cheese followed by mayonnaise, chocolate spread and peanut butter. Then he added some spring onions before adding a more generous amount of squirt cheese than before. He then placed the second piece of bread on top and pushed down on the bread so that the two pieces were touching and all the ingredients were squashed together. He then picked it up and went to take a bite but stopped when a voice came from the doorway.

"You're really going to eat that?" Rose asked before she burst out laughing.

He looked up to see her stood at the other side of the table. She had a massive grin on her face. John lowered the sandwich as she came closer to him.

"Yeah." He said determinedly.

"Go on then." She said nodding to the sandwich that was in his hands. "What've you got in there?" She asks, eyeing it weirdly. "I see some ham and cheese… and is that chocolate spread with squirty cheese?" She looked at him with a small inside smirk. "You _sure _you wanna eat that?"

"Of course!" He mumbled, although when she named most of the contents like that, it made him have second thoughts. He kept hold of the sandwich, thinking about dropping it.

"I dare you." Rose bent forward and whispered in his ear. It sent shivers down John's spine. And it only made him more determined to do it.

"How much?"

"Ten." She said straightening.

"Twenty." He Bet.

"Thirty and that's my final offer." She smiled at him.

"You're on!" He beamed. The more wired the stuff that they bet on was the more they both bet.

"Well go on!" Rose encouraged. She would do anything to see her fiancé eat a sandwich filled with every sandwich filler he liked! John lifted the sandwich to his mouth once again and bravely took a bite. As soon as the food touched his taste buds he struggled to keep a pleasant look upon his face. He smiled through a mouthful which he was trying to swallow. The taste was disgusting; it felt like an explosion had gone off inside his mouth. And even with his time lord senses (that he still had) it didn't make it taste any better. All John wanted to do was spit out the vile food and take a big gulp of water. But he couldn't, he wouldn't. He was not going to lose £30 on something so silly as a sandwich. He smiled more at Rose and put his thumb up as he tried and tried again to swallow the now paste like substance that seemed to be getting bigger than smaller.

Rose had an eyebrow raised, with a knowing look on her face. It was obvious he didn't want to eat it. He obviously found it disgusting and if he wasn't careful he could throw up any minute. She was about to tell him to admit to defeat and spit it out when her father appeared in the doorway.

"Rose darling. You're mum's upstairs. She wants your help." He looked at the situation before him and chuckled when he noticed the sandwich in John's hands. "Now." He added seeing Rose opening her mouth to argue back. Rose sighed and turned to her boyfriend.

"I want to see most of that gone by the time I get back." She said jokingly, pointing a finger at John. Then she turned to the doorway and followed her dad out. As soon as Rose's footsteps had faded out and he could hear hers and Jackie's voices from the room above him, did he move into action. He rushed over to the sink and spat out the yellow and brown substance and began washing it down the drain. When that disappeared out of the skin he looked at the sandwich in his hands. He went over to the bin and opened the lid but stopped before he chucked it in. When Rose came back, she would check the bin to see if he had put it in there. And if she saw it there she would make him give her thirty quid. And he didn't want to give that away. He looked frantically round the kitchen and saw the plate where he had buttered the bread on. He rushed over to it and put it on there. He then looked around again and spotted the fridge. He hurried over and pulled open the door. He pushed the plate right to the back before going back to the table and picking up the contents on the table and placing them back into the refrigerator. He positioned all of the items around the sandwich so that it couldn't be detected from first glance. He quickly shut the door and turned to look at the other stuff left of the table. He quickly tided them away before getting out a plate from the cupboard and placing it in the open dishwasher to make it look like he had actually eaten the food and cleared up properly. He then sat at the kitchen and awaited Rose's return.

He didn't have to wait long as 10 minutes later she was back.

"Sorry." She smiled as she walked in. "Mum wanted help working the laptop we got her the other day." Rose stopped as she spotted the almost spotless kitchen. "Wow." She mumbled looking round the room. Then her eyes rested on John. "You eat the sandwich?" She asked, expecting a no.

"Yeah." He smiled at her. "God it was delicious!" He beamed. "I believe you own me £30." He held out his hand.

"Hang on a minute…" Rose sighed as she went over to the bin. She lifted the lid and took a good long look at all the carrier bags her and her mum had put in there earlier. But not sandwich. "You really ate it, and managed to clear up before I came back?" She asked, looking at him suspiciously. He nodded. Rose went to her back pocket and pulled out her wallet and handed John a £10 and £20 note. He smiled brightly as he placed the money in his wallet and then he turned back to face her again.

"What's for tea?" He asked. "I'm starving!"

3 months later

It was Saturday and Rose felt peckish. Her and John had only got up 10 minutes ago and she didn't want breakfast. She fancied some of John's favourite chocolate biscuits that he always kept in the fridge. As she opened the fridge door the most disgusting smell met her nose. It stank like vomit that had been in the sun for hours. Her eyes began to water at the smell. She pinched her nose to stop the sour smell from penetrating her.

"What is that smell?" She asked herself, sounding blocked up as she had hold of her nose. She started moving objects aside as she looked for the stink. She finally found the source of the smell at the back of the 3rd shelf. She pulled the plate out and chucked it on the table. "What is that?" She asked herself, still holding her nose. She looked more closely and noticed chocolate spread and was that peanut butter? And, ugh! That looked like mouldy cheese and tomato. She automatically knew who this sandwich (if you could even call it that anymore) belonged to.

"JOHN!" She screamed the top of her voice, dropping both hands to her sides and letting her nose drag the awful smell towards her again. She heard hurried footsteps from upstairs as her fiancés feet came bounding down the stairs. He skidded into the kitchen.

"What?!" He asked desperately. "Are you hurt?"

"LOOK!" She pushed the plate to the other side of the table and John's eyes opened wide and his face suddenly paled.

"What is it?" He asked. He knew damn well right what it was.

"Don't play stupid with me John!" She crossed her arms. "What was it doing in the fridge?" She asked firmly.

"Um… um… I… uh…" John stumbled to find an answer. "I dunno." He finally decided.

"It didn't happen to get there a couple months ago while I was helping my mother upstairs? Too scared to lose a bet?!" She asked with a death glare.

"Maybe." John mumbled not taking his eyes off the mouldy sandwich.

"You owe me £60." Rose stated. John looked up at her quickly.

"What? I thought we bet on 30!" He argued.

"We did. But you owe me the 30 I gave to you when you 'won the bet' (she put quotation marks round the three words) and then you owe me £30 for actually winning the bet!" She placed her hands on her hips.

Reluctantly, John went upstairs to get his wallet and came back down with £60.

"Thank you!" Rose smiled snatching the money out his hands. "Now you can clear that up!" And she couldn't help but laugh at John's disgusted look.

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**I thought this was a cute, funny little one shot! :) also (if you wanna know) the idea of the sandwich with all the different food in is an idea i borrowed from 17 again! (an amazing film!) Also, i'm waiting with open arms with suggestions on titles! I wanna know what you guys want to read! :) i'm hoping that the next chapter (or the one after that) will be the wedding! Hope you enjoyed that! please review! :)**


	5. An Alien Invasion

**Thank you for the reviews guys! I was not suprised when many of yo usaid you thought that John would eat the sandwich. I did so too, to start with. But then i thought, that's to omuch liek 11. So i changed it a little! Anyway... here is a one-shot, that i have no idea what view to take on. I've never, honestly, written anythinbg like this before, so this is a first. Please just scream at me if you think it's completely wrong! But i do hope you like it! **

**Disclamer: Seriously not mine - although i wish it was. I might get hold of Moffat and make him share it with me! :)**

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**5. An Alien Invasion **

"Ready?" Pete asked Rose as he came to her side. She nodded and couldn't help the smile that exploded on her face. Her heart was beating wildly and the butterflies in her stomach showed no signs of disappearing soon. Her dad linked their arms before turning to push open the huge wooden church doors.

As the doors opened the traditional 'Here Comes the Bride' song was played and everyone turned up to look at Rose and Pete as they began their decent. They all gasped in admiration at the beauty of one Rose Tyler. Her white wedding dress was the most gorgeous for miles around. There was a collection of silver sequins, made to look like a flower. There was then small silver beads that grew from the sequin flower and moved around the top of the top of the dress. The bottom of the dress was just as dazzling as the top with a layer of silk, just that little bit smaller than the actually dress. Her hair was tied up in a tight bun and on top of her head was a small and plain, but utterly amazing, tiara. On her wrist was a silver bracelet with the word 'Rose' written in Gallifreyan on it (it had been a recent birthday present from John). And around her neck was a pearl necklace. She held a small bunch of (ironically) roses (her maid of honour thought it would be highly amusing) and her bridesmaids were following in suit behind the bride and her father.

John was stood at the front of the aisle, watching in awe as his bride came slowly towards him. John was wearing the simple black suit and tie with a white rose attached to his top left pocket. He smiled as he watched Rose ascend closer and closer towards him. As her and Pete came to a stop (closely followed by the bridesmaids) John held out his hand to take hers. She elegantly placed her hand in his and he gently walked her round until she was facing him.

"Beautiful." He mouthed at her before Rose bent down to the youngest bridesmaid and handed her the roses before the young girl in the lilac coloured dress made her way to her seat next to the other 4 bridesmaids. She then stood again and turned to John and smiled her appreciation.

The song ended and the rest of the guests took their seats again as all eyes were now trained on the couple about to be wed.

As they both said their vows, no-one was aware that outside the church were a fleet of Cybermen, ready to 'upgrade' everyone within. The Cyberman, who seemed to be in charge, stormed forward and flung his arm forward, braking one of the church windows. Screams echoed from everyone watching the wedding and Rose and John turned to see tonnes of Cybermen smashing their way into the church.

John and Rose did not take their eyes off of the Cybermen as they surrounded the people, the doors and the now broken windows. They were all trapped in a circle of Cybermen and there was no way out. Everyone was hugging one another and some (mainly the younger ones) were crying into the chests of others. John took Rose's hand as the other members of Torchwood.

John turned to the Torchwood gang and they all formed a closer circle. The Cybermen had started to yell 'YOU WILL BE UPGRADED' at everyone as the guests formed a tight group.

"There's no other option!" John told the Torchwood lot. There was Neil Scull who was one of the three who went on most of the missions; the other two that normally joined John, Rose and Neil on these missions were Mathew Hoying and Sherry Wesson. The technical experts were Kevin Huckaby and Heather Branton. Karen Alden was their medical doctor and the guy who kept the place clean and everyone refreshed (although he did accompany them on certain missions and proved to be quite helpful) was Stanley McKay. "We're going to have to fight them!" He saw the surprised looks on Heather and Karen's faces. He very rarely said they had to kill. But then again these were Cybermen and there was no other way. "We have to do something!"

"John!" Screamed Neil Scull over the noise of everyone else screaming in fear. "What are we going to do?!" He looked around at everyone else who was part of Torchwood to see if they had cottoned on at all. Most of them had. "All of our stuffs in the car outside! And in case you haven't noticed, we're surrounded!" He motioned to the Cybermen around them.

"Hold it!" Heather cut in before John could reply. "I have a small emergency kit in my bag!" She dived for her bag that was in her hand and pulled out what looked like a lipstick. She pressed a button and all of a sudden, a gun had appeared from nowhere.

"Is that…?" Mathew began.

"Oh yes!" Kevin smiled. "An anti-cyberman gun!" He winked at Heather who smirked and flicked her hair behind her shoulder.

"You are bloody brilliant Heather!" Rose exclaimed.

"Well I was going to suggest gold…" John stated. When everyone looked at him weirdly he continued. "It's what they used to do centuries ago! God knows if it'll work with their new suit and everything. But it's worth a shot!" Rose shook her head slightly before she turned to Heather and Kevin.

"Do you have anymore?" She asked eagerly.

"Just the one." Kevin told her as he went into his jeans pocket and pulled out what looked like a normal mobile phone until he pressed a button and it was identical to Heather's gun.

"Go!" John yelled at them and Heather and Kevin went to work shooting the nearest Cybermen. "Everyone else grab something gold and catch it in the light! Then shin it at them!" He screamed at everyone as people started diving for cover under the benches as the Cybermen started to shoot at Heather and Kevin. The Torchwood team all ran in different directions to get hold of something gold.

Heather and Kevin were shooting to their hearts content and the rest of the team managed to kill some Cybermen with their plates and cups of gold, but it did not kill them all.

"DISSARM THEM!" John yelled to his team members as he threw the golden plate in his hand at a cyberman like a Frisbee. It caught the Cyberman on the arm, damaging and disarming the metal man. John watched as Rose used her golden cup to smash the metal man around the head and they both jumped back as Kevin shot a laser at him. Rose smiled at John before they both picked up their plates and threw them, just as before, towards different Cybermen. Kevin and Heather got the idea and started to shoot the Cybermen who now had no weapon systems and soon, they all lay on the floor around them.

Once the last cyberman had fallen, John rushed to Rose and picked her up. She had fallen as the last cyberman had caught her on his way to the floor.

"John. I'm alright!" She exclaimed laughing. When Rose was on her feet, John turned to the guests and the other Torchwood members.

"Is everyone alright?" John yelled as people started to emerge from the floor. There were a few mummers of yes. "Nobody's dead?" He asked. Again mummers of no answered him. John then smiled as Jackie rushed towards her daughter, closely followed by Pete who was holding a crying Tony. She embraced Rose in a hug and started to kiss her telling her that she was alright. As Rose was trying to shake her mum off, the Torchwood team approached John. "You have to make one of those guns for everyone!" John told Heather and Kevin as they pushed a side button on the mini guns and they turned, once again, into a lipstick and mobile phone. They nodded as they pocketed and bagged their disguised items.

John looked towards the vicar as he emerged from behind the statue of Jesus on the cross. He smirked slightly at how shaken up the man looked. John turned, once again, to Rose who was now hugging her dad and took her hand. Together they walked back up to the Vicar and the vicar straightened his white hat.

"C…continue another day?" He asked in a quavering voice. Rose looked at John and John smirked.

"We'd like to finish today if that's alright. We were so nearly there." John told the small plump man. The man gulped and nodded slowly. He wished to rush home and be with his wife and daughter, but there was a wedding to finish.

"W…where were we?" At this point everyone fell silent again as their eyes were again on the bride and groom. However this time they were dotted all around the room, hugging one another. "Ah yes…" The vicar looked down at his bible. "I n…now pronounce you husband and w…wife!" Everyone burst into applause as John and Rose lent forward and shared that long awaited kiss; their first kiss as husband and wife, before the vicar could even say 'you may now kiss the bride'. The vicar, as it were, was now making his way towards a seat, needing a well awaited sit down.

When John and Rose broke apart, John rested his forehead on Rose's. They stood there for a moment listening to the cheers around them and counting each other's breaths.

"I will love you forever!" John told Rose as he took her hand. "Through all of time and space!" He declared. "Mrs Smith." He smirked and she smiled back.

"The same can be said for you Mr Smith." And they both began laughing. "I think they're all waiting for the after party." Rose giggled slightly.

"I think you're right Mrs Smith." John raised his eyebrows before they both turned to the guests. "Who's ready to party?!"

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**How was it? Please be honest and leave me a little review. I wanna know if you want more little one shots like this or not! **

**Now i havent watched the classic series (although i do desprately hope to in the near future!) i have read online that during the classic series you could suffocate the Cybermen with gold. Apparently they used gun's that shot gold dust at them. So god knows whether or not they shone gold at them (like what they just did in this one shot) but it was the best i could come up with... so please feel free to bite my head off if i got that wrong as well! **


	6. Bed Time

**WOO! LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH! heres another chapter but iim really nurvous about this one. I've never written anything like this before... so like the last chapter, i don't know wheather you'll like it. So PLEASE! let me know, i wanna know what me readers think and what they actually want to read... i need lots of chapter titles, i need like 50 more titles. So i have managed to think of 50 myself (although it has taken me quite some time!) but i really wanna know what you guys want to read! however, i hope you enjoy this! **

**Sadly not mine! :( wish it was!  **

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**6. Bed Time**

Rose pulled the curtains shut as John walked into their bedroom, dressed in his favourite checkered PJs. Today they'd had a lazy day in front of the TV. Nothing exciting was happening at Torchwood and they had given orders to contact them straight away at any signs of funny business. However they had got no phone call. Jackie, Pete and Tony had gone out for the day, leaving John and Rose to do as they wish in the house they all shared together. Of course, Jackie expected to come home to find the house in ruins but all the married couple had done that day was snuggle up on the sofa and watch soaps (much to John's displeasure – although Rose knew that he had enjoyed it even if he didn't admit it). Pete and Jackie had arrived home half an hour ago with a sleeping Tony on Pete's shoulder and they had all decided there and then, that they were going to bed.

Rose jumped slightly as she felt John's arms wrap round her waist.

"Hey beautiful." He whispered in her ear. She smiled as a shiver went down her spine.

"Good evening." She mumbled back as she turned around in his arms so she was facing him.

They both smiled at each other as they moved in for a kiss. Without breaking the kiss, they absentmindedly walked over to the bed and sat down. As soon as they were sat they broke apart.

Rose run her hand through her hair and John cast a quick look over to the door where it was slightly ajar. He rushed up and pushed it shut before making his way back to the bed. He lifted the covers and got in as Rose did the same. They both reached for their bedside lamps and switched them off and then turned to look at each other. The room was almost in total darkness, the only light escaping from the top of the curtains.

John placed his hand on Rose's check and he felt her smile at his touch. Again they moved closer to one another and shared another kiss. They broke apart every couple of minutes to get some air but were quickly back in their sharing another embrace.

Not long later, John picked up the small creak in the door as it opened. According to Rose the door opened silently, but John knew that the door (thanks to his time-lord hearing) knew it made a tiny noise. Knowing that it wasn't him or Rose entering or leaving the room he broke out of the kiss immediately. He heard Rose let out a sigh of frustration.

"What?" She whispers trying to work out John's facial expression in the darkness.

"Shhh…" John placed his finger on his lip but they realised Rose couldn't see him properly and so lowered his hand again. "Tony, I know you're there." John said, only louder this time.

"John. Tony's in…" Rose began but stopped when she heard small Tony's voice.

"But Uncle John!" Tony whispered.

"No Tony. It's bedtime." John said firmly reaching over to his bedside table where he switched his lamp on. Everyone blinked slightly at the bright light and then John turned to look at Tony. He was wearing Superman PJs tonight and was cuddling a small brown bear which he called 'Doctor', the 'superhero' from his bedtime stories.

"Come on Tony." Rose butted in. "I was nearly asleep." She lied easily.

"But I can't sleep." Came the reply.

"Tony – bed time!" John and Rose stated together firmly. Tony heaved a heavy sigh and began to walk out the room. He quietly closed the door behind him and scuttled off down the landing.

Rose moved closer to John and started to undo his PJ buttons. He suddenly realised what was happening and turned to Rose again. Soon the two were kissing and running their hands down each other's bodies.

This time John didn't hear the door open, he was – well – distracted. However both John and Rose jumped apart when they hears the small voice coming from the end of the bed.

"What are you doing?" Tony asked climbing onto the bed and crawling up to John and Rose's head's.

"Tony!" Rose hissed as she pulled the blanket over herself more. "Get to bed before I get mum!"

"But I thought you were sleeping." Tony replied, not fazed by the threat of Jackie, John realised. John knew he would be running back to his bedroom if Rose threatened to get her mum on him. He did not need to be on the receiving end of another one of her slaps.

"We were." John grumbled. Tony moved round so he was sat in the same position that John and Rose were lying.

"But it looked like you were playing a game." He argued. "I wanna play a game! Can I play?" Rose groaned and John rolled his eyes. Typical Tony.

"No Tony. We weren't playing a game." John told him firmly. "We were just saying goodnight."

"Can you read me a story?" He asked.

"No Tony." Rose warned.

"But please."

"I said no."

"But…"

"Tony."

"Rose. I'll do it." John heaved. He flipped the covers off himself and got up. He reached for his PJ shirt and slipped it on. "Come on Tony."

When John got back to his room, he was tiered. Tony had pestered him for a story about his hero, the Doctor and John had told him of the time when he (as the Doctor) had taken Rose to see the end of the world. When Tony had finally settled down he had placed Tony's bear under his arm before pulling the cover over Tony and slowly leaving the room.

"Is he asleep?" Rose asked, sitting up quickly as John opened the door. John nodded as he climbed back into bed.

"Hopefully for good this time." John stated as he turned to look at Rose who was propped up by her elbow.

"John, hunny," Rose mumbled as John looked up.

"Hmmm."

"You're wearing too much." She whispered moving forward to undress her husband.

"Uncle John…"

John froze.

"What?" Rose hissed through gritted teeth. John placed his finger on his lips.

"Uncle John…" Came the voice again.

"TONY!" Rose yelled.

"Rose, you'll wake your parents." John shushed. He then turned over to find Tony standing at his bedside, hugging the Doctor bear really tightly.

"What is it now Tony?" John asked firmly, now also getting annoyed by the constant interruptions.

"I… I had a bad dream." He moaned, taking a step closer to the bed. John groaned inside as did Rose. While John sorted Tony out, Rose was quickly redressing herself, so she could take Tony to their parents. Maybe then he would stop pestering them.

"Did you?" John asked, doubting that he actually had. Tony nodded his head.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" He mumbled into his teddies fur. John closed his eyes in annoyance.

"Um… Tony…?" John began. He had a lie sorted out in his head as to why Tony could not sleep with them. But Tony began to cry.

"I had a dream the Rosie died!" He wailed. John looked over at Rose who nodded her head.

"Come on then…" John mumbled as Tony, still crying climbed over him and plonked himself into the middle of the bed. As Tony flung his arms round Rose and wailed into her shoulder, John quickly got dressed and turned round to face Rose with a sleeping Tony in her arms. Rose smiled at John and John couldn't help but laugh. It was a typical Tony. But they loved him and so John helped Rose move him so he was in the middle of the bed, before they linked hands over Tony and also fell asleep, all with smiles on their faces.

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**So i've currently got my fingers crossed here! Cus, like i've said - i'm really nurvous! Let me know how it was and i'll give everyone vertual bananans! :D**


	7. A Halloween Costume

**Okay Guys! It's Halloween! Can you believe i?! Seem's like it was only New Years day yesterday! Wow! **

**Well, Happy Halloween! **

**As it's Halloween we've decided to write a Halloween special! So i hope you enjoy! :) **

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7. A Halloween Costume

John was sat on the sofa, dressed in his TARDIS blue suit and bright red converse. By the door was his Halloween costume, a cardboard box painted to look like the TARDIS. The box was painted blue and had arm holes and a hole big enough to get his head through. It was very awkward to wear.

At the beginning of the month Jackie had suggested that John and Rose take Tony trick or treating. It would be his first time as in previous years Jackie had thought his too young. John had been up to it and had got really excited as it would also be his first time trick or treating as well. That was before Rose suggested him going as his ship he had not seen in years. He had disagreed to begin with but then Tony got upset and so John had agreed, feeling guilty. However ever since he had agreed he'd been dreading the night more and more. Rose had said it was to make Tony's bedtime stories to life, but she would not let John go as himself – as the Doctor. He was only allowed to go as his oldest, longest and most loyal companion.

And it brought back too many painful memories.

John had no idea what Rose and Tony were going as, as the two were keeping it hush, hush.

Rose had ordered John to sit on the sofa as she was going to go and help Tony get into his costume before she got herself ready.

As he watched the minutes tick past, he began to wonder if they were playing a trick on him. But just as he was about to stand and go and find them, Rose came down the stairs.

She smiled at the look of surprise on John's face.

Rose was wearing a bright yellow strapless dress with what looked like plastic Easter eggs that were in half sown all down the dress in lines. She had a whisk connected to her left arm and a plunger connected to her right arm. On her head was an Alice band that had small square lights connected to them. She was unmistakably a Dalek, even without an eye stalk.

"What d'you think?" She asked him, giving him a twirl.

"You look…" He stood up as he searched for the right phrase. "… Like a Dalek." She beamed at his response.

"But I'm not the main attraction!"

"Are you sure?" John asked with a smirk.

"Oh, I'm quite sure." She told him with a wink. "Come on down Tony!" She yelled up the stairs.

Tony's small feet could be heard as he walked down the stairs.

John's eyes widened as Tony walked into the room. Then he smiled and began to clap.

Tony was in the smallest brown pin-striped suit John had ever seen. On his feet were a tiny pair of red converse that matched John's massive ones and in his hand was a small silver torch with a blue bulb, which was unmistakably supposed to be a sonic screwdriver. His brown hair was all jelled up to match John's natural look and he had a small brown trench coat over his shoulders.

"Uncle John! Uncle John!" Tony yelled jumping up and down. "I'm the doctor Uncle John!"

"Yes. I can see that!" John smiled. He now understood why Rose wouldn't let him go as the Doctor and he also understood why she had said they were going to bring Tony's bedtime stories to life a bit. John crouched to the floor and opened his arms and Tony ran into his brother-in-laws arms. "You make a very good Doctor!" He told Tony as he lifted him into the air.

"Are you still going as the Doctor's TARDIS?" He asked as John lifted him onto his shoulders.

"Of course! What sort of Doctor would you be if you didn't have a TARDIS?" He jumped a bit to make Tony move a bit and Tony laughed. He then caught eye contact with Dalek Rose. "Oh and every Doctor needs a Dalek to fight!" John added giving Rose a wink.

"Give me a Dalek any day!" Tony laughed, quoting his bedtime story. He then pointed his fake sonic screwdriver at Rose, pressed the on switch so that she had a blue spotlight on her and made a whirring noise. Rose pretended to be hurt by holding her heart.

"Oh no! The great and powerful Doctor has beaten me once again!" She cried in an over dramatic voice. Tony laughed in accomplishment. "We're off now Mum!" She yelled up the stairs.

"Alright love. Be safe." Came Jackie's reply.

"YAY! We're going!" Tony yelled as John lowered him to the floor. Tony run for the front door and picked up his empty pillowcase. John picked the cardboard box and placing it over his head.

"How do I look?" He asked Rose. Rose laughed.

"Like a TARDIS!" She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. And off they went.

The Tyler house was silent as a Dalek unlocked the front door and let the TARDIS carry the Doctor in on his shoulders. Tony was laughing at the top of his lungs as John dropped him onto the sofa.

Rose had been dumped with Tony's pillowcase which was now full of sweets. She placed the pillowcase on the floor in the hallway before following the two boys into the living room. She then spotted a note on the coffee table, picked it up and read it aloud, silencing the two males.

"Rose, me and your father have gone out for a meal as there wasn't anything good on TV. Don't let Tony eat too much candy. Also, bed for Tony as soon as you get back."

"What! That's not fair!" Tony moaned.

"Wait. There's more." Rose interrupted. "P.S Don't let John eat any sugar, I hate when he gets hyper."

"Hey! I do not get hyper!" John mumbled as Rose placed the note on the coffee table.

"But I don't want to go to bed!" Tony moaned again.

"It's okay. It's not bedtime yet." John told him as he winked at him.

"John! It's half nine!" Rose scolded.

"Exactly. We'll tell him a bedtime story! Only, we'll make it real!"

Rose caught on and smiled.

"Let's do it!" She beamed.

"Right Tony. We're going to play Doctor." John declared. "I'll be the TARDIS, Tony, you can be the Doctor. And Rose…" John turned to look at his wife. "You be a Dalek."

"But the Doctor needs a companion." Tony said standing up.

"Go and get Doctor then." Rose told him, referring to Tony's favourite teddy bear. Tony hurried upstairs while John and Rose rearranged the living room.

As soon as Tony was back down with his bear, John took centre stage facing the sofa where Rose and Tony were sat – waiting for him to start the bedtime story.

"The TARDIS was spinning out of control and the Doctor couldn't seem to settle his beloved ship." He began to spin really fast in circles before he became too dizzy and stepped to the side, letting Tony and his bear tell the next part of the story.

"Oh no Rosie!" Tony declared to his bear. "I think we're going to crash into planet Skaro!" He paused and put on a feminine voice for his bear which made John and Rose laugh.

"Oh no! Who lives there?" Tony made his teddy say. He then put his normal voice back on.

"The Daleks!" Tony spat. Rose added some sound effects.

"DUN, DUN, DUUUNNN!"

"Oh no!" Tony yelled. "We're crashing!" And with that he dropped his bear and fell to the floor himself shouting "BANG!" as he went.

John smiled. He had really enjoyed tonight, even if it hadn't started off that great. And it was nice to be on an adventure – even if it wasn't that real.

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**I thought this was some real cute fluff! I loved this chapter! (even if i do say so myself!) but it's not what i think about it, it's what you think about it! Please review! It would mean everythink! :)**


	8. A Picnic

**Hiya guys! I've had writers block for ages! I have though... been able to write this cute-ish little one-shot that's just got Rose and John in... but they are having a conversation about somebody... wont say who though... you can find that out for yourself. :) hope you enjoy!**

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8. A Picnic

"Rose." John wined; chin resting on the kitchen table and arms resting by his sides with his hands touching the kitchen floor.

"What?" Rose mimicked his voice as she continued typing on the laptop.

"I'm bored." He wined again.

"Well, find a way to entertain yourself." Rose mumbled under her breath as she moved a piece of text across the page. She was writing an article for job interviews for a medic. Karen had been moaning that everyone else had a partner to help them with their work except her. And so Rose, as second in command, had promised her that she would get a partner.

"But, there is nothing to do!" He paused. "Tony's at school, Pete's at work and Jackie's still in bed." As he said that he looked to his watch to see it half 10. Jackie was a lazy sod when it came to Tuesdays. That morning, John had dropped Tony off at school before coming home to find the house oddly quite. And he didn't like it. Normally, he and Rose would be on the sofa, snuggled up; maybe kissing – but also watching soaps and documentaries. But no – Rose was working on their day off.

"I'll be done in 10 minutes. Just… go and watch some TV or something." Rose sighed. John sighed again, not really liking the idea of TV. His brain then had a brilliant idea. He lifted his head, with a smile on his face. He brought his hands up to the table once again. He then beamed at Rose who saw him smiling out of the corner of her eye. "What?" She asked not taking her eyes off of the computer screen where she was writing the job description.

"Rose! Let's have a picnic!" He rushed. Rose paused in her typing and looked up at him with a look of surprise. She was not expecting him to come out with that. She then turned her head to the kitchen window where rain was dashed across it, making it impossible to see outside properly. The wind was knocking on the window, wanting a way into the house. The heating was on full as it was so cold. And Rose couldn't believe her husband's suggestion. She then turned back to look at John who was still smiling.

"In this weather?" She asked as she went back to her typing. "No." She told him firmly.

"But…" John began.

"John, I said no." She used a Tone that reminded him of Jackie scolding Tony. He frowned.

"I was going to say we could have it indoors." He grumbled as he went back to the position he was in before. Rose rolled her eyes at her husband's response and carried on with her typing. As she finished she pressed print before also sending the job description to several local newspapers. She closed the laptop down and pushed it to one side.

"Okay John. I'm finished. What do you want to do now?" She asked with a quirk of her eyebrow. John raised his eyes and looked at Rose.

"I want to have a picnic!" He moaned. He was very rarely like this anymore… very rarely moaning about nothing to do and time passing slowly and wanting wired things at wired times. But Rose guessed it was just one of his off days.

"John, we can't. The weather is horrible." Rose pointed to the window where the wind and rain continued to hammer against it.

"Not outside." John mumbled as he sat up properly again. "Inside. On the floor in the living room… Come on Rose. It'll be fun!" He gave her the most adorable puppy dog eyes Rose had ever seen. Those eyes made her do whatever he wished. And she hated him for it.

"Alright." She sighed.

"Yes!" John jumped up and punched the air. "I'll make the sandwiches!" He cried as Rose also stood.

"And I'll get a blanket to sit on." Rose laughed as she left the kitchen.

In no time at all the couple were sat by the sofa enjoying bacon sandwiches (a personal favourite of John's). They were laughing between mouthfuls as they remembered their adventures in the TARDIS, sharing memories and thoughts of those times.

"I loved your reaction when I regenerated!" John laughed as he whipped his mouth with a napkin. "You were just like 'send him back!'" He laughed as he mimicked her voice. Rose laughed too.

"Yeah… but you led me onto thinking you could send him back!" Rose laughed again.

"Maybe I did. But you believed me, that was the funny thing."

"Or remember that time when we met Captain Jack?" Rose smiled at the memory of hanging from a balloon in the middle of the London blitz wearing a union Jack t-shirt.

"Yeah!" John laughed. "Mr Spock!" He put on a fake posh voice.

"That child was creepy though…" Rose's face became serious.

"Are you my mummy?" John asked and then they both burst out laughing. It went silent for a moment as the two finished their sandwiches. Rose then looked up at John.

"What?" John asked, knowing that she was going to ask a question.

"Donna…"

With that one word, John knew what she was going to ask.

"You were close to her… yeah?" John nodded and looked at the empty plate in between them. This was not a subject he wanted to visit.

"Closer than you and… me?" She asked. John looked up and took Rose's hand.

"You were my everything… my world, my best friend… my…" He paused. "Now don't laugh…" Rose nodded, promising silently that she wouldn't. "You were my… crush." And he blushed a deep red. Rose couldn't help but giggle at him. "And Donna was my best friend as well… But she was like a sister to me. You were my lover, she was that nagging younger sister that I couldn't get rid of yet loved her like a brother should." He mumbled and Rose fell silent again.

"What happened to her after… the other you left?"

After a few moments, John replied.

"Why?" He asked his throat in need of clearing.

"Because… I know… When she left and we had brought you here for the first time… You became upset… And I know… I just know that something happened to her." Rose replied as she finished her cartoon of juice and placed it on the cloth they had laid out.

"She… uh… Well… I… that is to say… he…" John gulped. "She couldn't travel with me while being half time lord." He mumbled to the floor. He brought his legs up to his chest and hugged them. He had loved Donna like a sister and he didn't even get to say goodbye to her properly. He just hoped and prayed to God that the other he did.

"So… did the other you did what you did to me when I looked into the heart of the TARDIS? Did he kiss her and then regenerate?"

"No." John sighed heavily. "I… I mean… he… had to erase her memory." He felt a tear glide down his cheek. It was possibly the worst way to say goodbye to someone, knowing that they can never remember you or any of the times you shared together.

Rose's hand went to her mouth. She had expected something on the lines of what had happened between her and his previous face; nothing like this.

"Why?" She asked in a whisper.

"Cus… she would have died. She was half human, half time-lord. It wasn't meant to be. If he hadn't wiped her memory then… it would have been cruel to let her suffer."

"So if she was half human half time lord like you…" Rose began. John could see where she was going with this. "Why aren't you dead? Or have you just not reached that part yet?"

"Rose. Don't talk like that!" John scolded. "Donna was Human and had the time lord half forced into her. I was time lord and had half taken away and replaced with human DNA. Donna couldn't handle a time lord brain because her body was that of a human's. Because mine was Time lord, it worked fine. I'm not going to die anytime soon."

"Oh, don't jinx it!" Rose pleaded, her face now damp with tears due to dread of losing her husband because of his half alien status.

John pulled her into a hug and held onto her tightly.

"I'm not leaving anytime soon." He promised. "Not if I can help it."

A few minutes passed as the two sat in silence thinking about Donna.

"John?" Rose whispered, breaking the silence.

"Mmm."

"Would you ever go looking for the Donna in this universe?"

John stopped rocking Rose and stared at the ceiling, trying so very hard not to cry.

"No." He eventually said.

"Why?" John noted that that was the like the 6th time she had asked him that.

"Because… She might not be in this universe. And if she was… well she may not want me in her life… And god knows where she might be. She could be living in America for all I know." John mumbled. "It's not that I wouldn't want to find her again and start over out wonderful relationship… but would it be the same? Cus for me… it wouldn't." They both fell silent again.

"But… what if it was me you had lost? Would you come looking for me?" She asked looking up at him from his chest. He looked down at her.

"I would never stop looking."

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**The conversation stabbed me right in the feels! God help us all! The last line though... that had me right in the hearts. :') Please read, review and let me know what you think! :D**


	9. Aspirin

**God, i have no idea how you guys are going to take this one. Although i like it, you might not! So instead of making you read a long A/N about how i don't know wheather you are going to like it or not - i'm going to let you read it for yourself and tell me what you think (PLEASE BE HONEST!)**

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9. Aspirin

"John, hunny." Rose whispered shaking her husband slightly. "John, wake up."

John stirred and groaned. He wasn't feeling very well. He looked at the blurred figure that was Rose and groaned again. His head was pounding and he felt really sick.

"John, are you okay?!" She asks worried. John replied with a groan again. Rose noted that he looked really pale and he was in a cold sweat. He had been absolutely fine when she and left him half hour ago, okay he had been tossing and turning a lot that night and Rose found that the cover was being pulled away from her several times. But she had put it down to a restless sleep. "John…" Rose shook him again, only now a bit rougher.

"I…I fine…" He mumbled, worried that once his mouth was open he would throw up.

"Oh god!" Rose panicked. She had never seen John ill before, even when he was the Doctor. "I'll go get mum!" She rushed out the room yelling "MUM! DAD! COME QUICK!"

Rose ran down the stairs in search of her parents. Pete rushed out of the kitchen closely followed by Jackie.

"What? What's wrong?!"

"It's John!" She told them. "He looks really ill!" She saw Jackie's face relax slightly but Pete looked just as worried as Rose was.

"But he's never ill!"

"Exactly! And he hasn't just got a cold! He's really ill! He looks so pale and green! Oh god!" And Rose broke down crying. Jackie moved over to her and hugged her as she cried on her mum's shoulders.

"Let's go see how he is." Jackie said softly. Rose nodded and then spotted Tony at Pete's side, his eyes swimming with tears also.

The family made their way up to John and Rose's bedroom where John had fallen asleep again. Then Jackie realised how serious it was, just by looking at her son-in-law.

"Oh god." Jackie whispered. Pete moved over to John's side and placed his hand on his head.

"He's hot." He told the spectators. "Rose open a window, Jackie, go get some aspirin and some water." They all obliged as Pete went to work, waking the poor guy. Tony had climbed onto Rose's side of the bed and held onto John's hand. "John?" Pete said loudly shaking him. John stirred almost straight away, groaned and closed his eyes again. "No. John!" Pete said firmly. "Stay awake." He sat on the edge of the bed as John closed his eyes once again. "Now come on. Let's sit you up!" He exclaimed. He turned round to see Rose hugging herself, tears falling down his face. "He'll be okay. He's just got a bug… didn't you say one of your colleagues were ill?"

Rose nodded.

"But… She didn't come in." Rose mumbled.

"Oh well, come and help me sit him up." Pete said softly and ushered her over.

"Uncle John…" Tony was mumbling. "Uncle John, wake up Uncle John!"

"Okay Tony. Step out the way a moment." Pete told his only son. When Tony did as he was told Rose took his place. She linked her arm under John's just as her dad was doing and together they heaved him up to sit him against the head board.

John groaned as his back his the cold metal and made him uncomfortable.

"No…" He mumbled trying to push himself back into a lying position. Pete and Rose were holding him up.

"I know its uncomfortable John, and I'm sorry…" Pete told him "Go get a towel Tony." Pete said to Tony before turning back towards John. "But I need to keep you awake. I need you to take some aspirin."

"No!" John rushed, but regretted it straight away. He felt his stomach take a turn for the worse and held his mouth as he barfed. Rose rushed up and grabbed the empty bin before stuffing it under John's mouth. John emptied his stomach whipping his mouth with the back of his hand. Tony returned with a white towel and handed it to his dad.

"Thanks Tony." He took the towel and then placed the sick bin on the floor by John's bedside before taping his soaked head with it. "Where's your mum got to?!"

As if by magic, Jackie appeared in the doorway with a glass of water and a couple of tablets in her hand.

"No, no, no, no, no!" John mumbled, not being able to throw up any more.

"Sorry." Jackie said handing the asked items to Pete. "I couldn't find them. Someone had moved them."

"It's okay. As long as John can still take this, then that's fine."

"No! No, no, no, no!" John pushed the glass of water away as Pete lifted it up to his lips. John knew he wanted the water desperately, but he did not need the tablets. He did not want to die.

"John!" Rose begged in his ear. "Please."

"No!" John said darkly. "I die."

"What are you trying to say?" Rose asked, louder this time.

"Aspirin… kill me…" He mumbled. "Allergic."

"Now don't be silly John." Jackie said sternly. "Just give it to him Pete!" She encouraged. Rose was looking into John's eyes and he was pleading silently for her to understand.

"Come on John… just take this, and you can go back to bed… back to sleep. It'll help honest."

John refused to open his mouth and after 5 minutes of trying to talk him into taking into the tablets, Jackie got frustrated. She grabbed the glass and pinched John's nose. His mouth sprung open and Jackie poured the water down his throat. She then went to tip the two aspirin in too when Rose came to her senses.

"No!" She yelled causing Jackie to stop. "He said it'll kill him!" She rushed as she pulled her mum's hand off of John's nose.

"Be serious Rose." She snapped as she placed the glass of water on the bedside table.

"He's not fully human mum! If he says it'll kill him, you better believe him!"

Jackie sighed.

"Okay, if you wish…" She mumbled. "Come on Tony…" She bent down, picked him up (though Pete and Rose knew he was too big to pick up) and went to walk out. "Get better soon John." She said softly. "I'll get Tony ready for school." She told Pete. "I'm sorry…" She mumbled to John as she walked out the room.

Rose put her arms around her husband and hugged him close. She was crying and Pete noticed so was John. He placed a hand on Rose's shoulder and left the two crying together.

"Rose?" John asked, pulling out of the hug.

"Yeah?" She asked whipping her cheeks.

"Can I ask you something?" He asked softly.

"Course you can."

"Are you pregnant?"

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**Okay, i know where this story is going and i'm not going to tell you wither (hehehehehehe) :D but, i really want to know what you think about this... please let me know - cus i want to know your opinions on them being parents. If they're parents. Sorry if you hate the idea!**


	10. Waterfalls

**I'm not going to say anything to the end, otherwise i'll probably spoil the chapter!**

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**10. Waterfalls.**

"Nice to see you out of bed John." Jackie smiled as she watched her son-in-law trek down the stairs after a week cooped up in bed.

He reached the bottom and smiled slightly.

"Look…" Jackie mumbled softly, pulling John to the side. "I'm, really, really sorry; for you know… nearly killing you." She looked quite upset and John knew that Pete had made her realise what she had done – and she obviously deeply regretted it. "I was well – work's been stressful recently. I mean I could be getting the sack any day now…" She paused. "And I well… I was worried – about you. I just wanted you better."

"I understand." John smiled reassuringly. "But, uh… you haven't seen Rose around have you?"

"Oh, yeah. She's in the kitchen making scrambled egg I think. She's just got back from dropping Tony off a school." John nodded. "Oh and congratulations!" Jackie beamed and hugged John.

"Oh…" John mumbled, startled by the hug. "Rose told you then."

"Course she did! Me and Pete told her soon you would have to move out, but she said about finding a house big enough for all of us, plus the baby. She says she doesn't want to lose the ones she loves all over again."

John, nodded his head, Rose and himself had discussed the fact themselves and Rose had said exactly the same. They only just all managed to fit inside this small house.

At that point Rose walked out the kitchen wearing a 'KISS THE COOK' apron.

"John!" Rose beamed. "I thought I heard you're voice!" She walked over to him and kissed his cheek. "Feeling better?" John nodded as Jackie walked into the kitchen.

"Rose can I have a word?"

"Sure." They moved into the living room.

Rose had confirmed John's suspicions of her being pregnant when he had asked at the beginning of the week, but said how she was only a few months through. John then explained how he knew she was as he could feel the connection through the time-lord genes that he shared with the child. (Rose had been disappointed that she could not feel it, but John had made her realise that she would in a worse state than he was.) He then told her that the reason he was ill was because the connection was still forming and as a human/time-lord baby was not meant to be (as he had said to her many times before), his body was trying to throw off the connection – with failure.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked brushing her hands on the apron.

"The baby…" John began.

"Yeah…" There was a pause as John decided how to start the conversation. "John, I am not discussing baby names now. At least let us find out the sex first." Rose smirked, guessing his question.

"No… It's not that…" He paused and Rose realised he was being serious.

"What?"

"Do you feel any different?" He asked.

"No. Why?"

"I think something's wrong."

Rose slapped him.

"Don't play games with me!" Rose snapped.

"Rose!" John shushed, clutching his reddening cheek. "I'm being serious!"

"How would you know if something's wrong?! You're not the one carrying the bloody thing!" She snapped. She was furious at what he had suggested.

"Do you not remember me telling you I wouldn't be better for another week at least?" Rose sat down. "Do you not remember me saying about the connection forming?"

Rose nodded.

"I'm better too soon Rose! I just know it! And while that might me good news for me, it isn't for the baby."

"What are you saying?"

"That we get Karen to do a scan."

"But…"

"We'll do it right now."

"John…"

"Come on, I'll drive…"

"John…"

"What?" John paused and looked at her.

"I think I'm gunna throw up!" She hiccupped. And she just threw up on the floor and began to cry.

"JACKIE!" John yelled as he grabbed the usual box of tissues off the coffee table and sat next to Rose. He pulled a few tissues out and handed them to her while he took one himself and dabbed at the little vomit that had landed on her knees. When that had happened he pulled Rose into a hug and held her closed. She cried onto his shoulder and John shushed in her ear.

Jackie appeared in the doorway a moment later with Pete right behind her. When they saw the scene before them they went right to work, cleaning up. Pete went into the kitchen and brought back the trusty febreze and began to squirt the sweet smelling stuff on the patch where Rose had thrown up.

Jackie took a seat on the other side of a still crying Rose. She placed her hand on Rose's back and rubbed soothing circles.

"Don't worry hunny… It's only morning sickness." She said comfortingly. "It'll get better, I promise."

John's heart broke as did Rose's. Rose cried harder and John had to hold back tears as he fought to stay strong for his wife.

Eventually, John managed to get himself and Rose to the Torchwood hub where all their colleagues where working.

John guided Rose down to one of the medical rooms and helped her onto the bed. She laid there, fresh tears falling.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He kissed her forehead and went off to find Karen.

"Alright Rose?" Karen asked as she came into the medical room with John behind her. Rose shook her head and cried more as John went to her side and held her hand. Karen placed the gel stuff on Rose's white stomach and did not speak as she watched the screen. John made sure that Rose could not see the screen and stood with his own back to it as well. It was just as painful for him as well.

Finally Karen packed away and cleared her throat.

"John." She said quietly. "Can I have a word? Outside?"

John followed her out and he carefully closed the door on Rose as she was sitting up on the bed, pulling her t-shirt and jumper down.

"I'm sorry John…" Karen whispered her eyes stinging. John remembered Rose asking him if Karen could be god-mother and John had agreed. He recalled Rose telling him that Karen had been out buying loads of little toys and outfits for the unborn child. John realised it would have come as a sock to her as well. "There isn't anything there… at least, not anymore." Karen gulped.

At these words, John began to cry silently. It was all his fault. He looked up when he heard a kind of hiccup noise. Karen was crying too.

"And, I don't think…" Karen told him, not looking in his eyes. "…That there ever will again." She covered her mouth with her hand, tears now falling rapidly, like Johns. John thanked her and she went off to tell the others. John was left with telling the person it would hurt the most. He cleaned himself up as best he could and walked back into the room.

"Rose…" He mumbled as he closed the door. She looked at him, hope covering her eyes. He sat next to her on the bed and took her hands in his. She looked hopeful and he was about to take it away. He shook his head.

Rose's eyes became waterfalls for the billionth time that day. John looked her in the eye… there was no easy way to put it.

"And, Rose…" She looked up at him again. "You won't be able to be pregnant ever again." This caused her to start balling like a baby. "I'm sorry."

"It's not fair!" She moaned as she leant into John. John held her close again.

"I know it's not babe." He soothed, his cheeks, tear stained once more.

* * *

**there you are... you all hate me now don't you! I just now you do! i'm sorry, it had to be... although, things look up from here! Honestly! Please let me know what you think, good or bad! And don't forget, i still need loads of tites for these one-shots! Let me know if you have any! :)**


	11. Santa Clause

**I hope i didn't brake your hearts with the last chapter, but i hope you like this chapter. It's taken me a while but i'm pleased with it. Even if i do say so myself! :) i hope you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it! :)**

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**11. Santa Clause**

John stood waiting in the playground of the primary school Tony attended. Pete was at work and Jackie had recently been ill. So John had left Rose in charge at Torchwood and had come to collect her brother. He was early and so took the time to do some thinking.

Rose had been really upset when she had found out she couldn't have children ever again. John felt it was his fault, as he should have known a time-lord/Human baby should never had existed. So he had placed all the blame on himself. Everyone reassured him it wasn't his fault, yet he knew deep down it was.

Rose hadn't stopped crying since she had found out and her heart was broken. John had no idea what to do to cheer her up a bit and so he went and had a chat with Pete to see what advice he could give. He had told John to just give it time. She would heal, and although be forever scared she would be able to live life normally. John had then gone to Jackie to find out how to cheer Rose up physically. Jackie had said chocolates should do the trick. But Jackie also had another idea. She had suggested John think about adopting; and if he wanted to do it to ask whether Rose was interested. So John had done some research and before thinking about it in detail, he had asked Rose what she thought. They had looked into it and had even gone to a children's home. They now had some forms at home that they were writing out in their free time.

It was nearly Christmas and John had gotten Rose the perfect gift, well what he thought was the perfect gift. He had gotten Tony a Hotwheels set and other bits and bobs such as that. He had no idea what to buy Pete and Jackie though. He still had so much to do and Christmas was only a week away. He even had to get gifts for his mates at Torchwood. Then he had to get cards for everyone he knew.

On that thought, the school bell rang, making John jump. He looked around and noticed how full the playground had suddenly got. He shook his head, hating when he got lost in his own thoughts. He watched as kid after kid came out of the classrooms, but Tony's classroom door stayed shut tight.

John looked around at the other parents and guardians waiting for their kids. They were all getting restless – wanting to get home, out of the cold. Almost everyone had scarfs, hats, gloves and coats on… and like John were still freezing. Some people had pushchairs that were full of shopping; others had shopping bags in their hands. Some people were holding babies and some just looked annoyed.

When Tony's classroom door finally opened, the playground was practically empty again apart for those who were waiting for the same class as Tony's. Kids started running out towards the people picking them up with smiles on their faces. John kept his eye out for brown haired Tony, but he never came. Then a teacher came out the classroom door and came towards him.

"Mr Smith?" She asked.

"Yeah…"

"Is there any chance I could have a word with you?"

John nodded and the teacher smiled.

"You couldn't wait in the classroom for a moment please." John, wondering what the hell was going on, slowly made his way towards the door.

As he walked in, he saw tony sat on a beanbag with his back to the door, crying.

"Tony…" John walked up to him and knelt beside him. He placed a soothing hand on his back. "What's wrong?" Tony looked up at John but before he could reply the teacher came back in followed by another woman.

"I'm sorry I've had to call you both in. But unfortunately your sons have had a big falling out. And it has disrupted the whole class." The teacher said simply.

Tony turned back to his hands and started to cry again, only loudly.

"Tony, it's okay." The teacher said calmly. "You aren't in trouble. I just think you're Uncle ought to know."

"It's all your fault!" Tony yelled at a boy on the other side of the room, which John had only just noticed.

"It is not!" The boy yelled back.

"Boys." The teacher warned.

"Tommy!" Snapped the woman at the same time.

"But mum!" The boy, Tommy, wined. "It's not my fault he believes in Santa!" Tommy's mum gasped and looked angrily at her son.

Tony stood up and before anyone could realise what was happening, Tony was running at Tommy at full speed.

"Tony! No!" John yelled as he grabbed hold of the boy. He had stopped Tony just before he had jumped on his classmate and now had hold of him round the waist. "Tony! Don't!"

"But Santa is real! He is! He is! HE IS!"

"Alright Tony… I believe you." John said calmly in his ear. "Just calm down."

"Uncle John?" Tony asked. They were now leaving the classroom after the two boys yelled at each other for a couple more times. They playground was deserted now and the wind had picked up, making it really cold. "Is Santa real?" He asked, fresh tears falling again.

"Ah, you see Tony. You need to answer that one for yourself."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tony cried, grabbing John's hand.

"It means… if you believe, he's real. But for boys like Tommy, he's not real." John mumbled, looking down at Tony. He didn't look convinced. "We'll ask Rose yeah?" When he got no reply, he took it as a yes.

John found the team in the meeting room where they were all sat drinking coffee.

"Taking a brake eh?" John asked entering the room. "Just cus the boss went to pick up his godson for half hour?" John laughed at the look on everyone's faces. "I'm joking its fine." He looked behind him to see Tony stood, still crying in the doorway. "Come on Tony."

Tony slowly walked into the room and when he set eyes on Rose he ran towards her.

"Tony!" Rose cried happily. She lifted him onto her knee before noticing him crying. "What's wrong?"

"Tommy told me Santa's not real!" He cried. John sat down beside Neil and watched as Rose wiped Tony's eyes.

"Did he?" She asked. Tony nodded. "Well then, he'll be getting coal in his stocking and he won't get any presents." She paused. "Santa doesn't like children not thinking he's real. And when children don't believe in him, they don't get any presents."

"Really?" Tony asked.

"Really. So the big question is, do you believe in Santa clause or do you think Tommy's right?" Rose asked seriously.

"I believe in Santa!" Tony whispered, loud enough for the whole room to hear.

"Well, you'll be getting presents and Tommy won't!" Rose looked over at John at the other end of the table. They shared smile.

An hour or so later, Pete arrived to pick Tony up and take him home with him while John and Rose finished work.

When it was time to lock up, and everyone had left except John and Rose, the two turned to embrace each other in a hug.

"Well done." John mumbled in her ear. "I tried to tell him that but I couldn't get the words right." Rose chuckled at this.

"It just hurts to know I'll never have that conversation with our child." She sighed.

"I know." John hugged her tight. Rose pulled out of the hug a few minutes later and kissed him. "Come on." John said as the kiss broke off. "Let's go home."

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**Sorry it's been a while, but i have had a bad case of writers block and could not get any of my ideas down! So i'm really sorry for the lateness! But i like to think i made it up to you by writing a Christmas one! :) please review and tell me what you think.**


	12. Talking To The Moon

**MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! (yeah okay I know it's a bit late but I hope you all had a great Christmas!) **

**I am writing this on my new touch screen computer! It's so cool! I got loads of cool Doctor Who stuff as well! I love my parents! :) **

**This one is a lot shorter than the others. It's actually the shortest chapter there is. But it's one of my faves. I hope it makes sense... but it did to me... so hopefully it will to you guys too! :) **

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**12. Talking to the moon**

Rose led awake listening to John's heavy breathing. They were close to fostering now, just a few more days. That's what the social worker had said. But Rose couldn't help thinking about the child she could have had. The child that just disappeared. And the adventures she and John could have had just by being parents.

A single tear rolled down Rose's cheek. She missed it all she really did; all the running for your life, meeting new species, visiting new planets. As quietly as she could she slipped out of bed, guided her feet into her slippers, wrapped her fluffy dressing-gown tightly around her and, casting a look over at John who was still asleep, crept out of the room.

John awoke with a start and put his hand on his heart. He had just dreamt of himself regenerating from this form he loved so much. He couldn't exactly remember it exactly but he did remember the Master being there, Donna's grandfather was there too and… if he was not mistaken Rassilon.

John often had dreams like that every so often. Just the other week he had dreamt there was a human who thought he was the Doctor and he (as the Doctor) went along with it. He had been having them ever since he had arrived on the parallel universe. And it hadn't taken long to discover that he was actually living the other him's adventures.

John quickly shook the dream off and turned over; reaching his arm round to pull Rose into a hug to make sure it had in fact been a dream (for him). However John's arm hit the bed and he lifted his head. Rose was not next to him. That was really unusual. She never left him. It had always been the other way around. But John had a good idea of where she had gone – having made many midnight trips there himself. So he put his slippers on, his jumper from the night before and followed Rose out of the room.

As he made his way into the kitchen, the back door was wedged slightly agar and, through the glass door, he could see Rose sat on the porch. Making no attempt to be quiet he pulled the door open and Rose turned round to face him. She immediately started to wipe the tear tracks off her face as fresh tears fell with no intention of stopping.

John's heart broke as he sat down next to Rose and pulled her into a hug. For a few minutes, Rose sobbed into John's jumper and John kept mumbling in her ear telling her 'it's alright' and rubbing soothing circles on her back.

Eventually Rose sat up and wiped her eyes.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled.

"Don't be." John smiled encouragingly. "But why don't you tell me what's wrong eh?"

"Everything," Rose chocked on fresh tears.

"As in what?"

"Are we doing the right thing?" Rose asked. John raised an eyebrow, confused.

"Doing what?

"Fostering?"

"Of course we are Rose. We're giving an orphan child the chance to live his or her life and have a proper childhood with parents that care."

Rose nodded.

"And…" She paused.

"Yeah?"

"Well… I miss adventures."

"Me too…"

"I miss the way you used to be." She hid her face in shame. She was expecting to have a lecture about how he was exactly the same man just with one heart. But instead she felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"So do I," John told her truthfully as she looked up to see he too was crying.

"Don't hate me because of what I'm about to say…" Rose started.

"I could never hate you." John smiled again. Rose couldn't help but think that he wouldn't be smiling when she said what she was about to.

"Do you think he thinks about me? About us?" She asked looking up at the moon. She didn't want to look John in the eye. She knew she would see the pain she had just caused him through that question.

"All the time," John sighed looking up at the moon too.

"But, how do you know?" Rose asked looking at John to find no pain or sadness. He still wore the smile he had a minute ago.

"Cus, I dream." John sighed, eyes still trained on the moon.

"So do I! But I don't dream him thinking about me!"

"I do," John whispered – stopping Rose in the middle of a rant. "I dream his adventures through his eyes." He paused. "The adventures he has after leaving us here. And I had one tonight."

"How is he?" Rose asked.

"He just regenerated. Destroyed the TARDIS in the meanwhile." They both looked at each other and smirked.

"But how can he have adventures if the TARDIS is destroyed?"

"Oh the TARDIS will repair herself." John smiled at the memory of his old ship. Rose nodded her head.

"How does he look this time?" She asked. "Does he have two heads yet?" They laughed at their inside joke.

"I don't actually know. I woke up just as he finished regenerating." There was a silence that followed. "But I do know, that every night he puts the TARDIS into orbit around the moon and just sits and thinks about you, me, Pete and even Jackie. Hoping that were all okay," John told her reassuringly. He had, many a time, dreamt that he was sat on the floor of the TARDIS, legs hanging out the doors, orbiting the moon. And all he would do in these dreams was think; think about Rose and her family.

Rose lent against John and sighed, not feeling sad anymore. Just happy. Happy that she had her husband, her very own Doctor, even if he wasn't the full package.

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**It's kinda cute the last sentence. I love their relationship. But the next chapter shall be happy! I am determined to make a happy chapter! So until next time! (p.s. drop a little review please?)**


	13. Captain Jack Harkness

**Okay, I really like this one! This is one of my faves by far! And I really hope you like it too... it's not an important chapter, more like... well I'm not going to say much more, i'll just spoil the whole thing!**

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**13. Captain Jack Harkness**

Stanley looked up from the computer. He was sat behind the front desk at Torchwood when he heard the main doors open. He didn't look up as it was probably the police letting them sort out another mission than sounded too dangerous for their trained men and leaving it down to Torchwood who just held guns and specialised in aliens. But when Stanley looked up, it was not the police. It was a man. A man who looked to be in his 30's at least. Stanley watched as the man in the WW2 coat stepped closer to the desk. The man placed his hands on the desk in front of Stanley who had turned his full attention on the strange man.

"Captain Jack Harkness." The man said with a smile and a wink.

The Torchwood team were busy typing away at computers, scribbling notes on pads, scanning alien items and drinking coffee. It was a normal day for them, not much to report, no rift activity, and no weird alien threating the lives of innocent humans. It was just a normal relaxing day. They used their spare hours to write missions reports that had not been able to be written due to the fact that they had recently had very little time.

For a few minutes everything was silent apart from the pitter patter of fingers on keys and the scratching of pens on paper. But Rose, having been finished her mission report a few minutes stood up and entered John's office.

"Hi." John said as he was now sat at his desk typing vigorously. "Don't mind me. Just had a few emails through about the new job. Emailing them times and dates for their interviews." John smiled as he moved the mouse across the desk and pressed send. He looked up at her.

"How many have replied?" Rose asked perching herself on the edge of his desk.

"Quite a few. But I've already said no to a few. One person said he'd do anything for a job he was that desperate. So I read on, turns out he's got no experience."

"How can you have experience in catching aliens? Unless you work here?" Rose asked with a giggle.

"He had no experience at anything." At this the two burst out laughing. It had been John's idea to the group. He had gotten them all together and asked how they'd all feel if he went and got another team mate to join them on missions. He had said it was a bit unfair with only 5 mission team mates and if they needed to split up there would always be a group of 2 and a group of three. So when they had all agreed that it sounded a good idea to have 3 sets of 2 people John had gone ahead and put a job description in the local newspaper.

"Sir." Stanley's voice ran through the room from John's com piece on the desk. "There's a man down here in reception. He says he's interested in that job you put in the newspaper. Goes by the name Captain Jack Harkness." The com clicked off and John reached across and clicked it again to reply.

"Okay Stan… be right there." John then sat back against his chair and looked rather bored. "I better get down there." He mumbled. He stood up, striated his tie before he froze. He slowly turned his head to look at Rose, his eyes wide. Rose was smiling at his reaction. "Did he just say…. Jack Harkness?" John asked in disbelief.

Rose nodded. "Even better," she stated. "He said, Captain Jack Harkness." John's mouth flew open.

"I really better get down there." John rushed out the room, with Rose hot on his heals'.

They both ran up to the elevator and jumped inside as soon as it pinged open. They slowly began their decent down to the ground floor.

"You don't think it's actually him?! You don't think he's actually our…." Rose asked unable to stay still.

"Oh, he's not our Jack. But it'll be a pretty darn closeness between them! I mean who else has a name like Captain Jack Harkness?" John mumbled turning it all over in his head. "Fancy that eh?! Making friends with Mr 'I-sleep-with-everyone' all over again!"

Eventually they reached the ground floor. And as quickly as they could, without running, the two excited the escalator and walked into the reception.

Stanley was stood in reception; a cup of coffee in one hand while the other was in his pocket. He smiled at the two bosses as they entered and nodded his head in the direction of a man who was sat on one of the five waiting chairs.

Captain Jack Harkness looked no different from the parallel him. He was still the dark haired, blue eyed, light skinned, WW2 trench-coat-wearing man the John and Rose had known him as. And John couldn't help but smile at the sight of him. It was nice to see a friendly face of someone he had known from the other universe after spending so long in the parallel universe.

Captain Jack Harkness stood up when he noticed John and Rose. The look on his face suggested that he had never seen them before and was meeting them for the first time, which in all fairness he was. But Rose couldn't help but feel hurt by the look on the man's face. It really wasn't their Jack. But she smiled all the same.

"Captain Jack Harkness." The man beamed holding out his hand for John. John shook it.

"John Smith." He replied with a polite nod. "And this is my wife and second in command, Rose." John said turning to the only woman in the room. Rose nodded and held out her hand as well, expecting Jack to shake hers as well. But Jack grabbed her hand and brought it up to his lips and placed a soft kiss there.

"Captain Jack Harkness mam." Jack said with a wink and a smile that John knew him for. John had to hold his tongue to stop himself from blurting out with the 'Stop it!' warning he had used on the parallel him. "It's a pleasure."

"Pleasures all mine Captain." Rose smiled at him too, but in a friendly matter.

"So you're interested in the job?" John asked, quickly changing the subject. Jack let go of Rose's hand and stood back up. He turned to face the boss.

"Yeah. I was once first in command at Torchwood Three. We liked to keep ourselves secret compared to you guys." He laughed slightly. "But, recently there was a bomb set off in the institute killing all my team members. Long story short, I need a job."

"How did you survive?" John asked.

"Oh I was nowhere near…"

"Okay. Job's yours." John smiled.

"Really? No job interview or anything?"

"Nope." John popped the p.

"You're not even going to check my criminal record?"

"Should I?"

"I… No… it's just…" Jack paused. "Is this how things normally work around here?"

"Yeah. So tomorrow… 6am sharp!" John smiled.

"Okay then… I'll see you tomorrow." John stated a bit dazed by the sudden acceptance as he walked out the doors.

John and Rose were at the Torchwood hub extra early that morning to welcome their new team member. They had just brought in a new desk and had positioned it across the way from Rose's that was right outside John's office.

"John?" Rose asked as she placed a desk chair in its rightful place behind the desk. John was busy setting up a Torchwood computer and Heather (who they had asked in early this morning as well) was busy setting Captain Jack up with a new account.

"Yeah." John replied as he flipped the switch to the computer.

"Is… you know, Jack immortal?"

John looked up before he went back to his work.

"Well…" John started. Rose noticed he was using his 'know-it-all' voice and was about to lecture her. "Previously, there was no Rose Tyler in this universe. Which means I, (if I'm even in this universe) never met you. Thus you never became the Bad Wolf and brought him back to life. So unfortunately no…"

Rose sighed.

"I was afraid of that." She mumbled under her breath. "So we can't ask him to do dangerous stuff?"

"Rose, everyone here does dangerous stuff… it's in the job description."

Rose laughed at her mistake.

Slowly everyone started to arrive and take their seats, ready for work. And finally at 10 past 6 ("Typical Jack" John had exclaimed) Captain Jack Harkness stood in the doorway of his new work place.

John had taken him into his office and had given him a pep talk before deciding to introduce him to the team.

"Guys!" John called over their usual morning chatter. They were like a bunch of school kids sometimes. But they were all excited about their new team member, making them extra noisy today. Everyone fell silent as John's voice carried over them all.

"As you know, we have a new team member joining us today. Worked at Torchwood Three for a while. And now, for reasons which I'm sure you all know, needs a new job." He paused and motioned to Jack. "This guy here, is our new team member." Everyone sat up straighter in their seats. "His name…. Captain Jack Harkness."

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**This is more like a character introduction chapter, although we already know Captain Jack. I suppose you could say it's an introduction for Jack into the world of Little Wonders. Well I do hope you liked that! AND THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR THE REAL NICE REVIEWS GUYS! I LOVE YOU ALL! So review this one and tell me how much you loved/hated it! Thanks! :)**


	14. Jealousy

**Well, well, well! Another chapter so soon! I'm on a role! And I'm quite pleased with myself! And THANK YOU FOR ALL THE WONDERFUL REVIEWS! They mean the world! And I'm glad you all think that John and Rose adopting is a wonderful idea! And well... I've held it off for a few chapters but the time had come to introduce you all! :) Enjoy!**

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**14. Jealousy******

"There we go." Pete placed Tony's box of toy cars and trucks on the floor of the living room where everyone was gathered. Tony rushed over to the box and threw the lid off and began to play with his toys straight away.

John felt a small tug on his trouser leg and looked down to see Darren looking up at him. John knelt down so he was just a little higher than the child he and Rose had fostered. The four year old boy had blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a jumper that was really worn out and his small red converse trainers (that John had saw in town and fell in love with them and just had to get them for the little boy) were on his feet.

"What's up?" John asked with a smile.

"Can I play?" Darren asked in a small whisper. John beamed and nodded as he gave the small boy a gentle nudge towards the toy box in the middle of the room.

Darren was clutching a brand new truck (that Jackie had given him as a welcome to the family present) as he slowly made his way over to Tony and Tony's toys. John smiled at Rose who was stood at his side and when she smiled back, he placed an arm around her waist and pulled her close. Rose snuggled her head into John's shoulder as they watched their foster child reach into the big red box and pull out a car.

But as Darren went to play with it, the small blue car that he had been holding was snatched out of his hands.

"It's mine! Not yours! So don't touch my stuff!" Tony snapped at the boy. It was very un-Tonyish, but they had been warned by the social worker that there might be a little bit of jealousy.

Darren began to sob and Rose rushed forward and lifted him up onto her hip. She dried his tears with the back of her hand and smiled at the boy.

"Tony!" Pete's voice was stern but he didn't yell. You could hear in his voice that he meant business. "Give it back!" Pete very rarely got angry, but when he did, he was not one to mess with. Except Tony liked to try his luck.

"But it's my stuff! He's got his truck! And I've got mine!" Tony, who was due 7 in a month, argued.

"Tony! Give Darren back the car. Now!" This time it was Jackie that spoke. And she didn't sound pleased either.

John could see a storm brewing in Tony's eyes and stepped forward.

"Come on Tony. I always said it was nice to share." John tried. But this made the boy worse. He threw the little blue car back into his box where it made a giant crashing noise, making little Darren jump.

"Right." Jackie stood and walked over to Tony. "Up." She stated. She wasn't yelling but she sounded furious. When Tony was stood she pointed out of the room. "On the naughty step!" Tony looked appalled by this order and opened his to argue but a look from his mother silence him and he slumped out the room. "And no moving until I say so!" Jackie called after him. She turned to John, Rose and Darren. "Sorry." She mumbled.

"Don't worry." John placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll talk to him later." He smiled. Jackie nodded before she took her seat back on the sofa next to Pete. John turned round to see Rose placing Darren back on the floor where he dived straight for the blue motor that he had, had before.

John sat in the armchair he was stood beside and Rose did the same, only opposite him. All four sets of eyes were trained on Darren as he pushed his new truck around with the blue car riding in its trailer.

John bent down and scooped Darren up gently and quietly. They had finished tea half an hour ago and then Rose had placed Darren in front of the TV to watch cartoons under John's supervision as she went for a bath. John had watched as Darren had curled up on the sofa with his teddy (that apparently he had, had a while) and fell asleep watching SpongeBob. John could remember when Tony used to fall asleep on the sofa watching TV.

As carefully as he could, John carried Darren up the stairs, into his new bedroom and led him on the bed. Now for the tricky bit, John thought. He slowly took Darren's red converse off and placed them at the end of the bed. He then removed the boys socks and, as best he could (without waking the sleeping child) took the jumper off him. He then pulled back the covers on the bed and tucked him in nicely.

John brushed a few blond strands of hair out of Darren's closed eyes. He then bent low, placed a light kiss on the boy's forehead and left, switching the light off and closing the door.

As he turned around, Rose was exciting the bathroom drying her hair with a towel.

"Alright?" She asked. John placed a finger to his lips. "Sorry." She mouthed. John walked closer to her.

"He fell asleep. So I put him to bed." John told her brushing his fingers on her cheek. "He has had a long day."

"Yeah. Better tell mum, dad and Tony to keep it quiet though." Rose mumbled. John lowered his hand.

"Yeah, I'll do that now."

He alerted Jackie and Pete about the sleeping boy before making his way up to Tony who was sat on his bed with a stuffed giraffe in his hands.

"Hi Tony." John said as he entered the room.

"Go away." Came the reply.

"Don't be like that Tony. I only came to talk." John sated closing the door and making his way over to the bed and taking a seat. "Also, be quiet. Darren's gone to bed okay."

"I hate him!"

"That's not very nice! You don't know him"

"But everybody loves him! And not me! I wish he'd just go away." Tony's eyes filled with tears. John pulled him into a hug.

"Tony, Tony, Tony. What am I going to do with you eh?" He looked down at his crying godson. "You're always loved. And we thought you knew that. But we had to show Darren that we loved him too." He looked at Tony seriously. "Do you understand?" He asked softly. He had to make it clear to Tony that everyone still loved him, but Darren had grown up not really knowing love.

"He took my toy." Tony stated, ignoring John's question. But it sort of answered it for him. "He has his stuff, but mum and dad told me off anyway!" The door creaked open and John could tell by the sound of the footsteps that it was Rose, coming to investigate.

"Well, you think about that Tony." John said as he looked up at Rose slightly. Tony dried his eyes and looked back at the giraffe that was still in his hands. "What do you have in life?" John asked.

"My toys, my bedroom and my friends." Tony mumbled. Just to name a few, John thought.

"And you have a mum, a dad, a sister and me. And we all love you very much." John started. "And what do you think Darren has?"

"His truck. His… his… teddy. And his mum and dad too." Tony stated.

"See Tony, that's where you're wrong." Rose cut across John. "Darren doesn't have a mum or a dad. He doesn't have any brothers or sisters."

"Why doesn't he have a mum or dad?" Tony asked.

"His Dad left before he was even a baby." John stated, putting it in terms Tony would understand. "And his mum was only 16 when he was born. So special people took him away from her because they thought she was too young. And she had been doing some really bad things."

"But why?" Tony asked.

"No-one knows." John lied; he didn't want to be going into details about it with Tony. Not at the moment at least.

"But…" Rose placed a hand on Tony's shoulder. "You think about everything you've got and then think about Darren who's got nothing but his teddy bear and clothes. He doesn't have a mum to kiss him goodnight at bedtime. He doesn't have a dad who will play football with him."

"And we're helping him by telling him that he can and will be loved." John finished. "But we need your help. We need you to show him that you can play together and have fun together. Me and Rose will do the hard part." John smiled. Tony nodded.

"I'm going to tell him I'm sorry." Tony said determined.

"Not at the moment. He's sleeping. Do it tomorrow okay?"

The next morning, John and Rose woke Darren up and gave him breakfast. Tony followed behind 10 minutes later. Rose was cutting a banana up for Darren as Tony entered the kitchen. John was stood watching the scene with a cup of coffee in his hand. He watched as Tony walked up to Darren.

"I'm sorry." Tony said.

John smiled. This was going to work out just fine.

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**Well there you have it! I hope you liked that. Drop a review down to let me know your thoughts? And I know there wasn't a lot of explaining in this chapter as I imagined Darren's first day going something like this. I know his background and everything and all will be reviled soon (I don't know whether it'll be in the next chapter or not!) But I do love him! Anyway, please review and let me whether you like Darren!**


	15. Tell Us

**Okay, so here we go. We get to find out a little about Darren in this chapter! So enjoy!**

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**15. Tell Us**

"So come on!" Karen smiled as Rose walked into the Torchwood hub. She had been late to work slightly as she had to drop Daren off at school. "Tell us about him!" Rose laughed as she noticed everyone watching her.

"John won't tell us anything." Came Mathew's voice from his seat.

"Say's we had to wait for you." Captain Jack stated.

Rose laughed more as she took her shoulder bag off and placed it under her desk. She then took her coat off and draped it over the back of her chair.

"What do you want to know?" Rose asked taking her seat.

"Trust me." John's voice sounded above them all. "They want to know everything." He was stood in the doorway of the main work room with a cup of coffee in his hand. "Coffee?" He asked as he walked towards her and placed it on her desk.

"Dying for one." Rose commented before she picked the cup up and starting to drink.

"How'd he go off?" John asked as he sat on the edge of her desk.

"Okay." Rose stated as she pulled the cup away and placed it back on the desk. "Cried a bit and said he didn't want me to leave."

"Tell us!" Came Karen's voice again.

"Okay, okay, okay." Rose laughed as she pushed herself up slightly. "Gather round then!" She called. "I don't want to be shouting across the galaxy." She joked. There was the sound of scraping chairs as everyone fought to get a front row seat. John and Rose chuckled.

"Do you have a picture?" Sherry asked as they all settled down. John whipped his wallet out and pulled out a passport sized picture of Darren and Rose that they had taken that weekend on a trip into town. He passed it to Jack who just happened to be stood right beside him. Slowly the photo began to make its way round the group.

"Okay. So where do we start?" John pondered out loud. "I mean, you all know his name's Darren Nelson McDonald."

"Yeah, but tell us a bit about him. Why was he in care in the first place?" Neil asked as he got handed the picture.

"Well, his mum was 16." Rose stated.

"So what? She put him up for adoption?" Heather asked as she passed the picture on to Patrick. Rose and John shook their heads. "But they wouldn't take a child away from a teenage mum. My friend was a teenage mum and she's still got her daughter."

"No. What it was…" John started. "Was Darren's birth mum, well her parents had died in that massive motorway crash a few years ago. Remember? We were called out to investigate the crash." Everyone nodded from the memory. 31 people had died that day due to a power hungry alien who had died at the scene of the crash after his ship landed in the middle of the motorway creating a pile up. No-one liked to remember. "Well, her parents died in that when she had just turned 16. She had no grandparents or any relatives."

"She didn't go to college after she left school but her grades were so bad she couldn't get a job. Eventually she had to get her money from somewhere and basically became this 40 year old summit man's prostitute. She would go over his house every night, do what she was paid to do and leave in the morning with her pockets full of drugs and vodka." Rose stated. Everyone had gone quiet as they listened.

"The man died about a week after that from a heart attack. She went to his house and she was the one who found him dead. No one knows for certain but it seems apparent that she stole his drug supply and drink's supply as when his mate got there they were gone." John commented. "So basically every night she would get high on the drugs…" John paused.

"And pissed on the alcohol." Rose finished for him. "She started to get a criminal record for shop lifting. Eventually she found a bloke and they, you know, got it on. This guy, we can assume is Darren's father."

"It's just he left her the next day and within nine months Darren's mother was going into labour."

"She made it to a hospital and when she had given birth she confessed all to a nurse. The nurse called the police and social services and well, her house was searched and she only just had time to name Darren before he was taken away from her."

It went silent for a moment as everything sunk in. John started speaking again.

"She did her time in prison, and was let out a little early. She then went to get her baby back. Without success. But Social Services helped her out, gave her specialist help, gave her a college education to help her get back onto her feet and even gave her temporary living quarters."

"Within a few years however she thought she was back on her feet. (By this time she was around 19.) And so she went and decided once again to reclaim Darren. Who was now 3." Rose paused. "Again, without success."

"And she went back to her old ways after being told 'not just yet'. She took up drinking and drugs again. Everything goes a bit fuzzy after that. She was found almost a year later, really pissed on her floor and in the bedrooms of the flat she was staying in, were drugs. She was growing drugs. She was arrested on the spot and social services saw fit to take her only child away from her." John finished the story and looked round at everyone's faces.

"Where is she now?" Jack asked.

"In prison." Rose stated.

"Poor Darren." Karen mumbled and everyone nodded their heads in agreement. "So tell us more!"

"What else do you want to know?" Rose asked.

"Why did you pick him?" Karen asked as she handed the photo she had been holding for a while back over to Rose.

"We were shown pictures." Rose stated. "He was the most beautiful boy of the lot." She smiled as she ran her thumb over the image of the Darren. "And so we asked if we could chat with him. And we got on really well."

"He's a right little chatter box. He told us who he liked and disliked in the children's home and why. He told us all about his previous foster parents. He told us the story of his teddy bear, Charlie, who had fought dinosaurs and fought off aliens. He even found time to tell us about his new school that he had started in September. He then told us he'd be five on the 15th January. And this was all in the space of 20 minutes." John informed them with a chuckle.

"I mean, naturally we knew he was for us. He reminded me of how John just likes to babble on about such random stuff." Rose beamed as John shot her a playful 'OI!' "We just had to have him!"

"And so we did." John held his hand out to Rose who took it. "We took him out for a day before it was actually confirmed. We took Tony and him to the zoo. They got on really well."

"Yeah, until Darren came to ours, for real, the other day. Tony got jealous. He was not pleased with the prospect of another child in the same house as him." Rose and John laughed at the memory.

"Do you regret fostering him?" Neil asked over the tops of all the heads.

"Not for a second." Rose said. "I regret not fostering him sooner." John placed his arm around Rose's shoulders.

"When can we meet him?!" Karen asked excitedly.

"Soon." Rose informed her best friend.

"Once he's well and truly settled in, we'll bring him to meet you all. And hopefully, no aliens will threaten Earth that day." John smiled. Everyone laughed.

"Tell us more!" Karen begged.

And for ages they sat around listening to stories of little Darren McDonald.

John smiled as he thought of his foster son.

_Tonight… _John thought. _Tonight I shall share a tale of the TARDIS with him. And he will accompany me on a journey throughout all of time and space. _

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**So there you have it! I hope the story of why he was in care sounds convincing! Just leave me a nice little review to let me know what you think!**


	16. A Pet

**Hiya guys... not feeling too great today... woke up to my dad telling me that my poor old dog, Gerry-Lee was going to have to be put down. He was only 6. (He was really bad and he had been suffering from bad back legs for a while and we woke up today to find he had got worse and could not walk at all.) He was a German-Shepard and was just beautiful! So I have dedicated this chapter to him! (NOTE THE TITLE!) R.I.P Gerry-lee.**

**Also, congratulations to David Tennant and Georgia Moffett who are expecting again! **

**(There is a slight reference to both of these things in the story!)**

**Please enjoy! :)**

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Darren and Tony were stood together, a little way back from the river bank. They both had a slice of bread each and were picking off small chunks and throwing them into the water for the ducks.

"Rosie!" Tony yelled as he chucked the last chunk of his bread into the river before he bounded towards his sister and brother-in-law. "Can we have a pet?" He asked as Rose handed him another slice of bread.

John chuckled as he looked up from the daily newspaper he was reading – brainy specks perched on his nose.

"Your mother would never allow it." John mumbled as he turned the page of his newspaper. "So good luck trying Tony." John chuckled again.

"But…" Tony started.

"John's right Tony." Rose said as she waved at Darren. "Mum will say no."

With a sigh of defeat Tony made his way back over to the river bank where Darren was just finishing his slice of bread. Tony turned to the small boy and confronted him. John noticed this from above hi newspaper as Rose picked up her mobile and took up texting again.

"I think they're up to something." John mumbled to Rose who automatically looked up at the two young boys.

"Aren't they always?" She commented with a smirk that was reflected in John's face.

A little further away from them, Tony was talking in whispers to Darren.

"Darren. I need you to do me something." Tony told the blond haired boy. "I need you to go and ask Uncle John and Rosie if we can have a pet."

"Why?" Darren asked as he finished his slice of bread.

"Because you're their kid." Tony said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "And they'll listen to you." Tony paused. "Tell them we want a duck and that I'll look after it and play games with it. Also it can sleep in my room!"

"Okay." Fared said. "If I can have your ice-cream after dinner." Darren wasn't going to do Tony's dirty work for nothing!

"Yes. Fine. Just go and ask for a duck!" Tony mumbled, not paying any attention to what he had just made a deal over.

So Darren made his way towards his foster parents.

"Rose." Darren started as he stood in front of her and John. Both looked up suddenly, not expecting to have their silence shattered by a tiny voice.

"Yes hunny?" Rose asked as she pocketed her mobile.

"Tony wants a duck." Darren blurted out. By this time Tony had realised that he'd agreed to give Darren his after dinner ice-cream if he went and asked for a pet duck and he had discarded his slice of bread and ran after Darren to reason with him. But was too late.

"No Darren! You were supposed to say both of us!" Tony whispered loud enough for the two adults to hear.

"Was I?" Darren asked.

"Now, now boys." John commented as he folded his newspaper and put it to one side. "Jackie would say no. You of all people know that there is a strict rule about pets."

"But maybe if we asked her." Tony thought out loud.

"Tony. There's no point." Rose said as she was holding Darren's glove open to help him slip his tiny hand into it. "Mum will say no. So drop it." Tony dropped his shoulders and took his gloves that John handed him. He had a scowl on his face and it looked like it wasn't going to budge.

On the walk back home a small family walked past. The mother was pushing a pram with a sleeping child inside and the father was holding the lead of a rather large German-Shepard dog.

"Awwww…. Look Rose!" Darren commented pointing to the dog. The couple stopped and the man stepped forward.

"Would you like to pet him?" the man asked in a Scottish accent. "Don't worry, he wont hurt you." Darren looked up at Rose who nodded her head. She felt his small hand slip out of hers and she watched as him and Tony went over to pet the dog.

"What's he called?" He heard Tony ask.

"He's called Gerry-Lee. And he's 6."

"Aww… he's so cute!" Darren said as he put his arms around the big dog that was twice his size.

After petting the dog some more, the two boys said goodbye to Gerry-Lee and they all said thank-you before they continued on their journey home.

"Can we have a pet dog?" Tony asked as John grasped his hand again.

"No." John sighed. He was getting pretty tired of this conversation that had been going on since they left the river.

"But… that Gerry-Lee dog was nice."

"He was so fluffy!" John heard Darren say.

"Well, he might have been fluffy and nice." Rose said. "But, Mum doesn't like dogs. So we can't have a dog."

"What can we have then?" Tony asked.

"Nothing." John stated firmly. "So drop it Tony."

Tony went silent, thoughts running through his mind as he thought of a way to get his mum to let him have a pet.

When they got home, Jackie was at home after work.

"Good afternoon." She smiled at them all. "Or should I say evening? It's 5 o'clock." She smiled again as she went into the kitchen.

"Mum." Rose said as she helped Darren out his coat and gloves. "What's for tea?"

"Oh, I dunno love." Jackie's voice sounded from the kitchen. "Your father was on about a curry."

John pulled a face. He wasn't a big fan of curry.

"Well me and John thought about getting a take away tonight."

"Ohh… sounds good!"

"MUM!" Tony yelled as he finally got his coat off. He ran into the kitchen. "Can we have a pet! Pretty, pretty please!"

"What?" Jackie asked confused as she hugged her son.

"Well, I wanted a pet duck, but Uncle John said no… and then we started to walk home and we met a dog called Gerry-Lee. And then I asked if we could get a dog, but Uncle John said no!"

"So, that man is useful for something other than catching aliens then." Jackie joked as John walked into the kitchen to make Darren a glass of squash.

"Hey!" John pointed his finger at her. "I heard that!"

"Well Tony… I'll tell you what, I'll talk to your father and we'll think about it. In the meantime show us you can be responsible be tidying your room." Jackie said to Tony.

"Okay!" And Tony ran off out the kitchen and unp the stairs.

"Hmm, that'll keep him busy." Jackie smiled at herself.

"You're not seriously going to think about it are you?" Rose asked as she too entered the kitchen.

"Yeah. I could use the company when I've got a day off but everyone's at work or at school. It gets pretty lonely here you know."

"But seriously mum, a dog?"

"A dog! No way! Too much responsibility. No. I was thinking something small, like a cat."

"That's the only animal you like!" Rose smiled as she remembered their pet cat when they had been on the parallel universe.

"Hmmm… oh and him." Jackie said with a wink at Rose as she jabbed her thumb towards John.

"Oi! You're pushing it now Jackie." John joked.

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**Obviously, I've included Gerry-Lee in here. (obviously!) and you probably guessed it but the man holding the lead was supposed to be David Tennant (but it didn't look like him cus that would be weird because he's playing John so it's a guy who's 'pretending' to be him... if that makes sense!) and the woman pushing the pram would be Georgia, and the baby is their new born! :) So those were the references. So please review and tell me what you think! :)**


	17. The Inside Of A Spaceship

**I like this one. It's one of my favourites! For sure. But now we're only three chapters away from 20! can you believe it?! I never thought I'd get this far. Mind you, I would have got this far without you guys! So thankyou! Here's to you! **

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**17. The Inside of a Spaceship**

"It's a bit quiet. Don't you think?" Jackie's voice sounded over the silence in the house.

"Yeah. A bit too quiet." Rose agreed. "John, you couldn't go and check on 'em could you?" She asked not looking up from her laptop. John huffed.

"Why?" He asked placing his book down.

"Because I'm busy." Came Rose's reply.

"Well so am I!" John argued. He rolled his eyes at the glare Rose shot him before he stood up.

"Fine. I'll go check." He mumbled as he left the room.

He slowly climbed the stairs and was soon stood outside Tony's bedroom. He could hear them chatting quietly about aliens. He raised his eyebrow and smirked. Gently he pushed the door open.

Both boys looked up.

"Hi boys." John smiled as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"Hi Uncle John." Tony said before he lowered his head to a piece of paper he had resting on a book. He had a colouring crayon in his hand and was drawing something. John sat on Tony's bed and let the two boys continue their drawings for a minute.

"What you drawing?" He asked. At that Darren jumped up with a piece of paper in his hand. He shoved it under John's nose.

"Look what I drew!" He smiled. John took the picture and had to study it for a moment before he realised what it was. It was a rocket ship.

"Wow Darren. That's really good." John commented handing the small boy back his drawing as Darren swelled with pride.

"And what have you drawn Tony?" John asked as Tony was scribbling away.

"I drew something really, really scary!" Tony said as he continued to scribble. "I'll show you when I'm finished."

"Okay." John said as Darren climbed onto his lap.

"Tony said there are aliens called Garlics." He said in a small whisper. Tony's head shot up.

"No Darren! Not Garlics! I said Dalek's!" Tony said before he quickly dropped his head back to his drawing.

"Yeah, them. And he said they are really, really scary and that they kill you if you look at them."

"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say that." John said as he smiled at Darren. "But don't worry. I'll protect you from the Dalek's."

"What if they kill you?"

"They won't kill me." John laughed slightly.

"How do you know?" Darren asked.

"Because they're scared of me."

"Really?"

"Yeah." There was a pause. "You know once…"

"FINSIHED!" Tony yelled interrupting the story. He jumped up and handed John the paper. You didn't have to look twice to tell what it was. But John had to hold in a laugh. The image that had been coloured quickly was a normal looking UFO. But on top of it was a Dalek eyestalk. And coming out of the bottom were its two weapons.

"Wow, Tony - pretty good!" John smiled handing Tony back his drawing. "But what's it look like inside?"

"It's all dark because they've got no lights! And everywhere they go they have to be careful because there are traps to trap them!" Tony said excitedly.

"Okay… well that's different…"

"I told Darren that you would draw your ship. He doesn't believe me that you have one!" Tony said as he picked up the book he had been using as a support and placed it on John's lap. He then placed a clean sheet of paper on top of it and handed John a sketching pencil.

And so John complied and began to draw, with skill having drawn the image too many times before for Tony. First the doors, then the windows. Don't forget the bulb at the top. And the Police Box sign at the top. When he finished the drawing he held out his hand.

"Blue pencil." He ordered. "And a yellow." He couldn't forget to add the window light's in. When Tony placed the two coloured pencils in his hand John coloured her in. His ship. Underneath it, with the sketching pencil, he wrote…

TARDIS

He smiled at his drawing. He then turned to Darren.

"This is my spaceship. It's called the TARDIS. That mean's Time And Relative Dimensions In Space." John said with a smile.

"Why does it look like that?" Darren asked as he took the picture.

"Because it needs a disguise to stop people from recognising her. But she broke a bit leaving her looking like that. She can travel anywhere in time and space. She can go to the Victorian times…"

"Wow! That was a long time ago!"

"And she can travel a million, trillion years into the future." John looked at Darren who was gobsmacked. He smiled. "And she's alive."

"What do you mean alive. It's a spaceship. How can a spaceship be alive?" Darren asked, suddenly finding his voice.

"Because my TARDIS is special. She can change what she looks like inside as well."

"What does she look like inside?" Darren asked eagerly.

"Well… I'll let you in on a secret." John said quietly enough but for both boys to still hear. "She's bigger on the inside!"

"Oh, I love this bit!" Tony whispered as he shuffled closer to John. John quickly turned the sheet of paper around and began a quick sketch of the TARDIS console.

"And you see these buttons and leavers?" John said pointing at the few had had drawn. "They all help fly the TARDIS. This is what she looks like when you walk in." He let the thought sink in as he went to drawing the rest of the console room. "And these…" He pointed to the beginning of the corridors. "Are where you walk down to find loads of rooms." John put the pencil down on the paper.

"What sort of rooms?" Darren asked.

"Well, she's just like a house, only bigger! There is a kitchen, a bathroom (well quite a few bathrooms now I come to think of it…) loads and loads and loads and loads of bedrooms." He paused. "There's a library. And I used to sit in there for hours at a time just thinking. There's a swimming pool, a spa, a garden, sports hall, a really big wardrobe that has 4 floors and a football pitch!"

"A FOOTBALL PITCH!?" Darren yelled, shocked.

"Yep… a football pitch." John smirked. "But whatever you can think of, the TARDIS probably has it… somewhere."

"What about a chocolate fountain?" Darren asked.

"Yeah, probably… somewhere." John chuckled to himself.

"An elephant?" Darren asked looking up at his foster father.

"Now that you mention it, I think there is an elephant somewhere." John said quietly.

"Is there an ice cream room?"

"Yeah. Defiantly." John smiled, not too sure whether he was lying or not. He had never encountered an ice-cream room but that didn't mean there wasn't one.

"How about a crisp making room?!" Darren asked, his hopes high.

"You sure like your snacks." John said with a slight laugh. "But, to be honest with you Darren, I don't know whether or not there is a crisp making room."

"Why?"

"Because throughout 800 years of space travel, I never got to explore every single room."

"800 years?! Are you 800 years old?" John laughed.

"I'm 36 in human years." John smiled as he looked at Tony who was still listening with a smile on his face. "But really in 907."

"Wow! Will I live to 907?!" Darren asked.

"Sure sport." John said laughing as he ruffled Darren's hair.

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**I really hope you like this one! Thank you once again! (don't forget to review!) **


	18. I Can't Sleep

**So here we are! Chapter 18! Sorry it took so long to get up, I have only just finished it! I know I could have done better with this one, but unfortunately I have come down with another case of writers block! Well, I wont bore you anymore... enjoy the story!**

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**18. I Can't Sleep**

John and Rose sat huddled together under a blanket on the sofa. The TV was on, playing a movie the couple had rented. It was only half way through and John knew Rose was already bored, as she was messing with the buttons on his shirt. John smirked. He had moaned and protested wen Rose had picked out a romantic film but Rose had said he would have to like it or lump it. As it turned out, John was really into it and Rose had lost interest within 5 minutes. John had his arm around Rose who was resting her head on his chest. She was still messing with his shirt buttons and had sneakily undone the top one when the two heard the small creak from stair number 5 as someone was descending. Rose sat up and John paused the film. It couldn't be Pete or Jackie; they had gone out for their anniversary and had left John ad Rose babysitting Tony again.

Slowly Darren stepped into the living room.

"You okay Darren?" Rose asked as John noticed his button undone. Darren shook his head. Rose flipped the blanket off of her and called Darren over. She pulled Darren onto her lap. "What's up?" She asked with a smile.

"I can't sleep."

"Now that won't do!" John said playfully.

"Why can't you sleep?" Rose asked as he rested his head on her shoulder. Darren shrugged his shoulders.

"Can I have another story?" He asked hopefully. John smiled and stood up.

"Sure." He said as he held out his hand towards the little boy. "Come on then."

"Did he fall asleep?" Rose asked as John came downstairs 20 minutes later.

"No. But he was getting there." John mumbled as he sat down again next to Rose. He grabbed the remote and pressed play. For a few moments the couple sat in silence as they watched the film – both now having lost interest weren't paying attention.

"When are your parents back?" John asked, finally getting too bored with the film.

"Mum said they were going to find a B&B." Rose replied. She was starting to get sleepy herself after having been woken up extra early by Darren who had, had a nightmare. They both went back into silence and John switched the film off, not being able to stand it much longer. He grabbed the TV remote and turned on a music channel. He then stood. As he did he noticed Darren stood in the doorway again.

"Darren…" John started, but the little boy cut him off.

"I can't sleep."

"How about a drink?" Rose asked, sitting up at the sound of her foster son.

She took Darren into the kitchen and began making him a small cup of warm milk, hoping it would make him the slightest bit sleepy. John joined them soon after turning the TV off completely. As soon as Darren was in bed, asleep, he was planning on going to bed; and honestly, Rose was too.

Darren drank the milk thirstily and John laughed playfully at the small boy's milk moustache. Rose smiled as she helped Darren clean up.

Together, they went and sat on the sofa, Darren sat in between his two foster parents. Rose was stroking his hair and John hugged the boy. It wasn't long before Darren's eyelids got heavy and slowly closed.

"Is he asleep?" Rose asked in a hushed whisper. John nodded as he stood and picked the boy up, bridal style and carried him to his room. Rose followed close behind.

Rose pulled back the covers off Darren's bed and John laid him down. Rose pulled the covers back over him and kissed Darren lightly on the head. John closed the door behind them as they both left.

John went back downstairs and locked up for the night while Rose went and got ready for bed. When John got to the bedroom Rose was in bed, waiting for her husband.

Silently John got changed and climbed into bed next to her. They bid each other goodnight and closed their eyes.

However, their sleep didn't last long as John's eyes popped open at the sound of the door being opened. Brown haired Tony was stood beside his bedside table.

"Uncle John?" Tony asked poking John. John sighed and turned onto his back to look at the ceiling.

"What's up Tony?" He asked, half asleep.

"I can't sleep."

Again John sighed, it was just his luck. He looked over at the bump beside him that was Rose. She looked like she was sleeping. So he pushed the covers off and stood.

"What's going on?" Rose asked, stirring. She turned to see John and Tony.

"Nothing. It's okay. Tony can't sleep."

"Really? Is this honestly happening?" She asked sarcastically.

"I'll sort it. You sleep." John mumbled, taking Tony by the shoulder and guiding him out of the room and into the dark landing. He reached back inside and pulled the door silently closed. Tony and John then walked across the landing to Tony's bedroom.

Tony clambered back into bed as John switched the light on. He sat on the edge of Tony's bed.

"Did you have a bad dream?" John asked softly. Tony shook his head.

"I just woke up and can't go back to sleep." Tony admitted honestly.

"Okay, would you like a story?"

Tony nodded.

"Okay. Well there was this one time when I took Rose to Space Paris."

"Where's that?"

"It's in Space Tony." John smirked slightly before he continued with his story.

He crept back to bed having finished the story. Tony had fallen asleep a few minutes later and John had left silently. As he pulled the covers back over himself he laid there with his eyes open. He didn't feel sleepy anymore. He smiled at how nobody but Rose could sleep. They he cursed himself for thinking too soon. Rose had begun to fidget.

John let her carry on thinking that perhaps she wasn't comfortable. However Rose kept fidgeting. John opened his mouth to ask if she was alright but she sat up abruptly.

"John…" She whispered, gently shaking him to make sure he was awake.

"Yeah," John whispered back.

"I can't sleep."

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**Review please and tell me what you think! **

**ALSO! WOULD WE LIKE TO SEE DARREN CALLING JOHN AND ROSE, 'MUM' AND 'DAD'? LET ME KNOW, EITHER WAY WITH A REVIEW OR A PM!**

**Thank you! :) **


	19. Breakfast

**Thank you to remuslupin31060 who gave me the idea to this chapter! It was a really sweet idea! I just had to write it down! So thank you! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Chapter 19! Not long till 20! Wow! I'm proud, even if I do say so myself! :) Enjoy...**

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**19. Breakfast**

"Darren, sweetheart. Time to get up." Rose called softly. "Time for school." She added as the small boy started to stir.

Darren's eyes flickered open and he stretched.

"Good morning Mr Sleepy Head." Rose smiled as she stood up. "Come on, breakfast is nearly ready."

Downstairs, John was attempting to make breakfast as he kept an eye on Tony. Pete had left for work in the early hours of the morning and Jackie had left John to watch over Tony as she went and got ready for the day ahead.

"Tony! Sit down!" John scolded, starting to lose his temper. It had been the 10th time he had asked Tony to do so, and Tony kept on ignoring him as he ran round the table yet _again._ "TONY!" This made Tony freeze. John had never yelled at him before.

Tony looked up at John, his eyes wide and shining with tears.

"Sit. Down," John said firmly. He hated having to be so firm with him. There were so many things around that could hurt him; cups of boiling coffee, chairs that weren't tucked under the table, a glass jug full of orange juice sat waiting to be spilt. The list was endless.

As Tony slipped into a seat the bread that John had put in the toaster popped up. John jumped, not expecting it. He let out a huge sigh as he turned around to view the black, burnt toast. He took the toast out of the toaster and dropped it on the side.

"Ow." He mumbled under his breath as he cradled his now burnt finger tips.

"Everything alright John?" Rose asked as she entered the kitchen.

"Blooming brilliant." John mumbled, sarcasm laced through his voice.

Rose helped Darren onto a seat and went over to John who was mumbling in what Rose knew was Gallifreyan. She couldn't understand what he was saying; but she knew it was negative from the tone in his voice, he was probably cursing.

She wrapped her arms around his waist.

"John calm down." She whispered. He started saying something in his home language and then suddenly stopped. He coughed.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to," He mumbled and Rose realised he was apologizing for talking to her in Gallifreyan. "It's just… I dunno, I'm on a short fuse today." He paused as Rose rubbed his shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting, calming way. John reached over to the toaster and placed fresh bread in to toast. "It's one of those days." From those five words, Rose knew what he meant. She also knew that today wasn't going to be the best of days as John was going to be in a bad mood all day. "I want to be running, annoying the planets natives, saving Earth from alien invasions. Instead some new guy in a bow tie is doing just that."

"John, stop it!" Rose warned. "It's not his fault." She mumbled quietly, referring to the full Time Lord Doctor. "And think about it. We are running. We're running the road to getting a family. You annoy every human you come into contact with," She giggled slightly before she added, "In a good way. And we save Earth from Alien Invasions everyday."

Rose felt John sigh heavily.

"I know Rose. But I want to feel the excitement of stepping out of the TARDIS in a brand new world."

"John…"

"No Rose, I'm being serious!" He had raised his voice from a whisper to loud for the whole kitchen to hear. He slipped round to face Rose. "I just need time to cool off."

John knew why he was like this. He had, had another dream last night. Except since the other him had regenerated the other him now had a baby face and wore a bow tie. He, even if he had been viewing it from the full Time Lord's eyes, had seen River Song again – just like she had promised. The other him had a new companion, Amy Pond, and together the three of them had battled a forest full of Weeping Angles. He had woken up with an adrenaline rush, wanting a real adventure more than anything.

"Uncle John!" Came Tony's yell, breaking the silence that had fallen on the room. "Is the toast ready?!"

John turned around again and popped the toast up.

"Nearly there Tony," He mumbled as he began to butter the toast.

Rose turned away; she would talk to him later before they got to work. She looked down when she felt a tug at her sleeve. It was Darren.

"What's wrong with Daddy?" He asked.

John dropped the butter knife on the plate in shock. He turned round quickly.

"Did he just…" He began but was silenced by a warning look sent his way by Rose. Rose looked back down at Darren.

"Say again hunny."

"What's wrong with Daddy?" The small boy repeated. Rose smiled brightly and felt very close to tears. John shovelled his way past Rose and picked Darren up and enveloped him in a massive hug.

"Nothing!" John exclaimed, looking at the boy in his arms; all anger and longing for adventure gone. "Nothing's wrong!" He beamed.

"Don't cry mummy!" Darren said, turning to look at Rose.

"They're happy tears sweetheart." Rose laughed slightly as she cupped Darren's cheek.

"I thought you only cry when you're sad." Darren thought out loud.

"Uncle John!" Tony called. Everyone turned to look at the brunette haired boy who was now at his godfather's side. "I'm hungry!"

Rose and John stood together waving at Darren who was waving back as his teacher led the class into the classroom to start the school day. As soon as the class had disappeared inside the two began the walk out of the school gates. They passed through the green bars and paused to embrace each other in a hug.

"Wow!" Rose mumbled into John's shoulder.

"Speechless Mrs Smith?" John asked as they pulled apart. "That's very rare." Rose waked him playfully on the arm.

"Shut up!" She smiled. "I never thought he'd call us mum and dad."

"Me either." John admitted as they linked hands and began the walk back to the car that was parked down the road.

"I don't think I could live without him…" Rose mused. John smiled. He knew that, he was just the same.

"Just think about it… he could really be a part of the family soon." John commented as they reached the car.

"Really?" Rose turned round to face her husband. "You really mean that?"

"Course I do!" John paused. "Darren Smith… Hmmm… It has a nice ring to it, I like it."

"Me too." Rose said, trying to contain her excitement. She went round to the passenger side and got in as John got in the driver's seat. "Should we tell him?" Rose asked as John started the car. "Ask if he wants to become a Smith?"

"Yes." John commented as he pulled out of their parking space and began the journey to the Torchwood tower.

Rose couldn't help the smile that crept onto her face and stayed in position all day. She was finally getting the family she wanted.

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**Well there we have it... Darren calling John and Rose Mum and Dad. **

**Stick around guys... the next couple of chapter's get interesting. Well, I think so :) **

**Please Review! **

**And remember, any ideas you might have... leave it in a review or PM me... it just might be a brilliant idea... :) **


	20. Cosy Day In

**Hiya guys! Can you believe it? We are 1/5 of the way through! WOW! I just want to take this moment to thank all my readers, cus without you guys I would never have got this far! :) I hope you like this one! :) Enjoy...**

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**20. Cosy Day In**

"I'm gunna get ya!"

The sounds of people running around the living room could be heard followed by a playful 'HA' and a high pitched batch of giggles.

Rose walked into the living room to find Darren on the floor and John holding him down while tickling him. Darren was rolling around on the floor protesting where he could.

"No!" He laughed. "It tickles!"

"Do you promise not to tickle me again?" John asked playfully pausing in the tickling.

"I promise!" Darren sighed as John pushed himself onto his knees. With that he jumped up and attacked John, attempting to tickle his neck. John fell backwards, not expecting the attack and let out a laugh as Darren climbed onto him.

"No!" John yelled, in mock concern. "You promised!"

"I lied!" Darren yelled back, tickling John once more. John attacked back as he picked up the small boy and stood up. Darren started laughing as John led him on the sofa and sent Darren into fits of giggles once again as John started tickling him.

"Alright boys. That's enough. One of you'll get hurt in a minute. And I'll be the one having to patch you up!" Rose commented as she held out the plastic cup of orange squash to Darren who sat up, took the cup and drank thirstily. John stood, straightened his shirt that had gone wonky form the fall and coughed as he looked at Rose. "And I thought you hair couldn't get any messier." She stated with a small laugh. John shook his head.

"My hair is awesome thank you very much."

"Never said it wasn't." Rose replied as she smirked at John's face. "Anyway…" She started, interrupting John who had gone to say something. "I thought we could make some cakes!"

Darren's face lit up.

"Yeah! Can we make chocolate ones? And strawberry ones? And banana ones?" He asked. John and Rose laughed.

"No!" Rose smiled. "I thought we'd make some sponge cakes and put icing on top."

"But there boring!" Darren wined. Who wanted sponge cake when you could have chocolate cake?!

"I agree Darren. But what if we had chocolate icing?" John asked as Darren finished his drink. Darren nodded his head.

"Well then, with that settled… let's make some cakes." Rose smiled as she took the cup from Darren. "Go and wash your hands then."

With that Darren ran off upstairs. John chuckled.

"How long did the social worker say again?" He asked Rose when Darren was out of earshot.

"She said we can sign the paperwork in a few weeks. Then we have officially adopted Darren." Rose smiled. "A real family! At last!"

"You and me both."

"Shall we get the ingredients then?"

"Tip it in then." John instructed handing Darren the weighed out flour to tip into the main bowl. Darren grabbed the bowl from John and chucked the flour in with a laugh as it went everywhere. "Not that fast." John sighed as he whipped his face. He looked at Darren's lit up face and broke into a dashing smile.

"Wow!" Rose stepped into the kitchen. "What happened here?" She asked as she looked at the two white men in front of her. "I pop out to go to the loo and come back to find you destroyed the place." She says, knowing she couldn't stay mad at either of them for very long. "Mum's gunna kill me!" She mumbled.

"Oh, come on Rose! It's only a bit of flour!" John stated. To prove his point he rushed over to Rose and placed a white hand on her cheek. "See?"

Rose sighed but smiled. "Let's just be cleared up before mum gets home okay?"

"Deal!" John beamed.

"Okay, how far have you got?"

"Well, we put the butter and the flour in the bowl!" Darren said proudly as he showed Rose the empty measuring bowl that had held the flour only moments ago.

"Right then!" Rose said, rolling up her sleeves. "Let's get cracking!"

John and Darren made making cakes a messy business. Rose was trying to do it properly but they had to keep starting again. There was flour all up the walls and sugar all over the floor. There were bits of whisked egg stuck in Darren's hair and a bit of butter here and there.

Eventually though, they started to get somewhere and Darren was soon helping Rose place the cake mixture into the cake cases they had laid out.

John had excused himself to go and change from his flour covered clothes and came back down stairs just in time to see Rose placing the cakes into the oven and Darren munching on the remains of the mixture.

Darren saw his foster father and held out the wooden spoon he had just licked. John laughed as he shook his head at the offer.

"I'm fine thanks Darren." John stated as Rose stood up.

Suddenly the doorbell rang.

"That's probably your mum. Forgot her house keys again I bet!" John stated to Rose. He turned around and walked down the hallway. He reached up, pulled the door open and was shocked when Jackie did not stand in front of him.

Instead a young woman stood there. She looked to be aged between 20 and 25. Her dark brunette hair was tied in a ponytail and her face was drowning in make-up. She smelt of cigarette smoke and had dark circles under her eyes (that not even the make-up could cover up). Her clothes looked too expensive for her. She wore a low-cut green, sequined t-shirt and skinny jeans that hugged her legs rather tightly. She had a small silver purse with a strap that she had over her shoulder.

John was so confused that he didn't say anything and just stood staring at the girl. They hardly ever had visitors, and when they did it was normally someone trying to sell them something they really didn't need.

"Hi," The girl said. She had a London accent that really didn't seem to suit the way she looked.

"Um… hi?" John didn't mean it to come out sounding like a question. "Can I help you?"

"May I come in?" She asked as she pulled the strap of her purse higher up her shoulder.

"No!" John shook his head and went to close the door. How dare she ask such a question?

She put her hand out and stopped the door from closing.

"Please. I'm Darren's mum."

_**TO BE CONTINUED! **_

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**Told you it would get exciting didn't I! So, tell me what you think! I'm a bit nervous about this one! So please, please, please review :D thanks guys! **


	21. My Child

**Here you go, part 2! I defiantly got the reaction I wanted! But I wont say much... it might spoil the chapter! Thanks for all the lovely reviews! Enjoy!**

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**21. My Child**

"Leave! You're not welcome here." John snapped.

"I may not be welcome; however, you have my baby." The woman replied.

John laughed. He could feel the Dona in him emerging.

"Your baby?!" He paused as he shook his head. "Sorry missy, I think you've got the wrong house." His voice was laced with sarcasm.

"Can I just see him?"

"No!"

"Please."

"Okay, tell me; when was the last time you saw Darren?" John asked, keeping the door closed slightly. He didn't need Darren seeing her or her seeing Darren.

"I haven't seen him since he was born." The woman answered honestly. "Not since those effin' social workers took him from me. She paused. "Please. He needs his real mum."

"I'm sorry, whatever-your-name-is…"

"It's Amber," She cut across him.

"Right, whatever. Darren had a real mum… and Dad for that fact, And for the record, he's having a better childhood to what you would have given him." The woman, Amber, sighed.

"I get it… those social workers have made out that I'm in the wrong – haven't they."

"Oh, you were in the wrong from day one. So, uh, goodbye." Again John went to close the door but was stopped again, only this time by Amber's foot.

"John? What's going on? Who is it?" Came Rose's voice from behind John. John looked over his shoulder.

"Rose, where's Darren?" John asked.

"He's in the kitchen…" Rose paused as she looked behind her and into the kitchen. "No, wait, sorry. Here he comes now." Rose said as Darren walked up beside Rose. She placed a gentle hand on his head which was still really messy. "Why?"

"Just…" That was as far as John got before Amber pushed against the door with force you would not expect her to have. John lost his footing slightly before he found it again quickly. But he wasn't quick enough as Amber was now stood in the doorway of _their _home.

"Who are you?" Rose asked, her arm guiding Darren behind her.

"I'm Darren's birth mother." She stated coldly. "And that," She pointed behind Rose where Darren was not stood. "…Is my son."

"GET OUT!" John yelled.

"Oh, do shut up!" Amber yelled back.

"Watch it missy!" John raged. "You have no idea who you're dealing with!" _Great, _John thought, _now I've got Donna and the Time-Lord shining through. _

"Really?" Amber paused. "Aren't you the… boss of Torchwood?"

John wasn't surprised that she knew where he worked. She knew where they lived; god knew what else she knew about them.

"Okay, yes. That's true. But you haven't seen me in action." Before anyone knew what was happening Amber had reached into her little purse and pulled out a loaded gun.

"Is that a threat?!" She asked, pointing it at John's chest.

Rose hadn't screamed when she saw the gun, but she did panic. This woman was on a mission to get her only son back and there was only two people standing in her way. As quickly as she could and as quietly as she could as not to draw attention to herself, she ushered Darren into the kitchen. She was shaking as she helped him into a seat.

"Stay here. Whatever happens do not move out of this seat, okay?" Rose said quickly and Darren nodded.

"Yes mummy."

"Good boy, I love you." She kissed his forehead.

"I love you too mummy."

Rose rushed over to the oven, switched the off switch, stopping the cakes from baking half way through. She then ran over to the sink and placed her thumb in the top left hand corner of the draw that was positioned under the sink; the one that never opened. With a click it flew open. Rose grabbed what she needed out of the draw before she slammed it shut. She then pulled her mobile out from her back pocket and dialled 999.

In the hallway, John was eyeing the gun wearily.

"Honestly, guns don't scare me." He said. If he was honest he hated guns and tried to prevent the Torchwood team from ever having to actually use them, telling them they were a bit for show really.

"Just hand Darren over and no-boy gets hurt," She said strongly.

"Never!" John said calmly. There was no need to be hot-headed when there was a gun pointing at your chest.

"I'm not bluffing." She snapped.

"You see, only someone who's bluffing say's their not bluffing." Came a voice from behind. The gun swung round and pointed straight at Rose. John took this opportunity to slam the door shut to prevent Amber form running if and when she did. John wasn't surprised to see Rose holding a gun at Amber.

"Well maybe this time, that's not the case." Amber spat. She was holding the gun so tightly in her hands that her knuckles had gone white.

"Rose!" John called. He didn't trust this woman, she could do anything – they didn't know whether she was putting on an act or not. And that worried John, especially as the gun was not threatening Rose.

Rose ignored John and said nothing,

"Put the gun down!" Rose ordered, gripping the gun tighter.

Amber didn't move. She scanned behind Rose to look for Darren.

"Where is he?" She spat.

"Out of reach from you!" Rose replied with so much hate to her tone. "Did you really think you could waltz on in here and claim him for your own?" Rose asked, not lowering her weapon.

"Well, I am his mother."

"Really? Cus last time I checked you were where you belonged, behind bars!" Rose snapped. "You're not his mum. You never were and defiantly never will be. You'll only ever be known as the woman who gave birth to him and nothing more."

John and Rose could tell this cut into Amber's heart.

"He's a McDonald! And therefore, he'll always be my child, and I will always be his mum!"

"Oh trust me; he won't be a McDonald for long. It won't be long before he becomes a Smith." Rose said. Amber was silent, not knowing what to say.

"I'm not leaving!" She snapped, tightening the grip on her gun even more.

"I know you're bluffing." Rose said calmly before losing her temper. "SO PUT THE GUN DOWN!"

"Do you call this bluffing?" She pulled the trigger.

BANG…

_**TO BE CONTINUED!**_

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**Well... there you have it! Please share your views! It's greatly appreciated. :) **


	22. Keeping You Safe

**Here we go! I took me ages, and plenty of failed attempts to get the ending of this just right! But I think I did just right! :) I am sorry for my cliffhanger last chapter, but it's no fun if you guys know what's going to happen! :) but thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews! :) I love you guys so much! So here we go Chapter 22!**

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_Previously... _

_"I know you're bluffing." Rose said calmly before losing her temper. "SO PUT THE GUN DOWN!"_

_"Do you call this bluffing?" She pulled the trigger._

_BANG…_

**22. Keeping You Safe**

The first thing that alerted John that he was awake was the pain coming from his chest. Then he heard the beep-beep-beep of a heart monitor. His eyes slowly flickered open to the white washed walls. He blinked a few times adjusting to the sudden change in lighting. He was in a hospital.

Then it all came flooding back to him.

_Amber. The gun, turning on him, the bullet. The pain, in his chest, the red sticky stuff seeping onto the floor. The blond hair tickling his face, the voice calling his name… the darkness. _

He groaned as he attempted to move around. The pain in his chest proved to be too much and he decided to just lie there. He was then aware of the oxygen mask on his face and slowly lifted his hand to pull it off.

There was a soft thumping in his head. He guessed he must have hit the ground harder than he thought when he fell to the ground after the bullet had torn through his right side. He shook his head from the memory as he looked around at his surroundings. He had a drip inserted in his wrist, he had been changed into a hospital nightgown and the white thin covers were tucked around him. There was a body sat on a chair that was pulled up beside the bed he lay in. The person's forehead was resting on the bed and the messy blond hair covered her face from sight as she slept.

Smiling John placed a gentle hand on Rose's head. She worried too much about him sometimes.

At the touch, Rose stirred and lifted her head. John's hand fell of her head and she moved her hair out of her face. She froze when she saw John's eyes open.

John smiled.

"John?" Rose asked, swearing that she was dreaming. John nodded his head. "Oh John, you're alright!" Rose grasped John's hand in her own and pulled it up to her face.

"Course I'm alright. I've been in worse situations." He mused.

"How are you feeling?"

"It hurts…" He placed his free hand where the pain was located; where his right heart would be if he was full Time Lord.

"Duh!" Rose laughed softly, trying to lighten the mood. "You were shot."

"What happened? After I was shot…" John asked as he tried to move again but failed.

"I knocked Amber out, called an ambulance, called mum and dad, got Darren and the next thing I know… I'm waiting for you to come out of surgery." Rose choked on her tears. "A Dr said you might not make it through. But you did." Rose let her tears fall down her face, ignoring them. "They said the bullet had gone deep and you were lucky to be alive."

"Hey," John soothed, ignoring the pain shooting across his chest as he reached his free hand over to her face and brushed her tears away. "I'm okay. The king of okay…" He paused. "I don't want to be a king…" He mused before he shrugged his shoulders. "What about the police… did they get involved?"

"Yeah…" Rose began. "They took a statement and arrested Amber. She's currently being held in custody before she goes to court to face charges for attempted murder. Hopefully we won't be seeing any of her ever again."

"I don't think we will." John dropped his hand back to his side, letting out a sigh of relief as the pain stopped screaming at him.

"The Dr said it'll be a while before you'll be up and about… I guess that means no catching aliens, right?"

"Well I guess… I couldn't run in this condition even if I wanted to." John sighed. Rose squeezed Johns hand slightly in a reassuring matter. "How is everyone?" John asked, meaning the Torchwood team.

"Their okay… they're all worried sick about you… Jack's always here, he's just popped out for a coffee actually. Everyone pops in once or twice in the day…"

"Wait, how long have I been here?"

"Two days. You woke up slightly after the surgery… you were speaking, well actually you were kinda screaming, in Gallifreyan."

"Shit…" John mumbled.

"Yeah, well anyway, you then yelled my name and they let me in, to see you. I held your hand and told you over and over again that everything was going to be okay. You eventually closed your eyes again. I assumed you had gone into one of those healing coma things you were telling me about… you know what the Time Lord's do."

John nodded.

"Probably… My survival instincts are probably stronger than yours… Time Lord's always were. Except, I won't heal through a healing induced coma… I'm too human." He smiled weakly. Rose nodded.

"But you're alright now?" Rose asked.

"Apart from pure agony escaping my chest and the thumping in my head… I'm fine..."

It went silent between the couple.

"Rose… I've got that coffee you ordered!" Jack said as he entered the room where John was being kept. He froze when he saw the man awake. He rushed forward.

"Thanks Jack." Rose commented as she took her coffee of off Jack.

"John, wow. You're awake!"

"Always one to state the obvious," John smirked. "But yes, I'm awake."

"Wow… I've missed ya John…" Jack stated placing down his coffee on the table that was beside John's bed. "Everyone has. You gave us one hell of a scare."

"Yeah, well…" John smirked slightly. He groaned again as he moved slightly to lie in a more comfortable position.

"You okay John?" Rose asked. John nodded in pain.

"Just my chest, that's all." He mumbled, closing his eyes – trying to ignore the pain. If he hadn't he would have noticed the look Jack and Rose shared. Silently Jack had asked if he should go and get a Dr, Rose had nodded her agreement.

John's eyes opened again just as Jack stepped out.

"Where's he going?" He asked, motioning to the door.

"It's okay John…" Rose replied; she knew his dislike for Dr's and decided not to say anything – but the look on John's face said he knew.

John spent the night by himself after refusing to let Rose spend another night in the hospital chair beside his bed. She needed a proper sleep and she needed to be there for Darren. John would be fine… he had the Dr's and nurses to help him out if he needed anything – which he wouldn't.

He spent the night thinking of those few minutes before he was shot. He kept coming up with the same questions; how had Amber known where they lived? How had she known about Torchwood and his job? And where had she got this information? He couldn't find any answers to these questions and so spent a sleepless night trying to piece together the few facts he had.

Around 4am he accidentally fell into a restless sleep. He did not realise how much he needed that sleep till he felt cold hands on his face. He felt a peck of lips on his forehead and the tickle of the end of blond hair on his cheeks.

Rose pulled away and smiled as he opened his eyes. She was sat on the edge of the bed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Rose mumbled tucking her hair behind her ear.

"No, no. Don't worry." John mumbled, still half asleep.

"The nurse said you were up all night." Rose quirked her eyebrow in an enquiring way.

"Thinking…" John mumbled, trying to get comfortable in the bed.

"About?" Rose's tone suggested he continue.

"Amber and everything." John rubbed his eyes, just wanting to fall back to sleep.

"We'll talk later." Rose mumbled. "I brought someone to see you…" It was then that John noticed Darren stood beside his foster mum.

"Darren!" John placed a smile on his face. Darren beamed when he knew John had noticed him. Rose picked him up and placed him on the bed beside his foster father.

"Be careful Darren, daddy's hurt real bad." Rose said as she stood up. John placed his arms around Darren as the small boy gently climbed up to see the man he called dad.

"I'll look after you daddy." Darren mumbled into John's chest.

John felt his heart swell. He needed to keep this boy safe, if it was the last thing he did.

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**At least no one died! Although, poor John... :( I didn't like doing that... although it was rather fun writing this scene! Please let me know what you think (was the ending okay?!) :D review, review, review! **


	23. Get Back Up

**I am so sorry this has taken so long! I caught a REALLY bad case of writers block and could not write anything. I tried tonnes of hints and tips to get rid of it, but it just wouldn't budge! :( So this chapter is not as great as it could be. It's more like a filler. But I'll tell you what, it's pure Jose (John/Rose) I thought it was time for a chapter focused on just John and Rose. It's been ages since the last one! :) Enjoy!**

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23. Get Back Up

"Do you know what's weird?" John questioned one night. Rose had her head resting on his shoulder and John was drawing Gallifreyan circles on her arm with his finger.

"What?" Rose asked. It was quite late; but neither could sleep. It was no surprise. John was still in pain from being shot and Rose had stupidly drunk a mug of coffee before everyone had gone to bed. Mind you, the circles John was drawing on her arm were soothing.

"Not healing so quickly." John replied. He paused in his circle drawing before he continued. "Normally I would have healed by now… but, well, I just haven't." He paused again. Rose didn't say anything. She knew he was thinking. "It's just weird; that's all. I'm so used to it healing straight away. You know?"

"No." Rose commented with a small laugh. "No idea."

John laughed.

"Fair play."

Silence entered the room and hung around the couple as they both listened to the rain lash on the window.

"Do you know how boring it is here day in and day out?" John asked suddenly breaking the silence. Rose laughed at the randomness of the question.

"No, but I've got a feeling I'm about to find out." Rose mumbled as she moved slightly, hoping she didn't cause John pain as she placed her head back on her pillows and turned to look at her husband.

"There is nothing to do! You would not believe the amount of times I read through the books on the bookshelf! There is never anything on TV, I can't do any cleaning (and as I've been sitting in the living room for a good 3 weeks I've noticed how dusty this place actually is!) and your mother keeps on trying to feed me! Apparently I need fattening up. For what? I'm not going to become Sunday roast!" John paused before looking at Rose. The two burst out laughing. "Come on Rose! There's gotta be something I can do!"

Rose knew what he was talking about. He wanted some work to do. He had been stuck at home day in and day out because he wasn't allowed back to work. He kept calling in every 20 minutes to ask if there was any research he could do, but Rose didn't want him fretting too much. The Dr said not to stress him too much. He was a delicate thing, always had been, always will be. But after being shot and coming an inch near death… he was even more delicate at the present time.

Rose sighed. She really didn't want him to do anything. She had asked the Dr when he would be able to go back to work. The Dr said in time John would know when he could manage the stress that came with his job. Rose knew that John would want back to work straight way so she had made John promise to have 4 weeks off at the minimum. But John had been pestering ever since for something to do.

"I'm sorry John." Rose shook her head. She closed her eyes as John tried to hide a frustrated sigh.

John knew full well that there were tones of stuff he could be doing. Hacking into the UNIT database for example. (In this parallel universe UNIT were always trying to shut Torchwood down; for some reason UNIT were the only ones allowed to have alien technology etc. Even though that was only through their eyes.) OR! John thought, I could be researching an alien artefact and/or telling you what it is and what it does.

"I'm just so bored!" John whined, pouting slightly.

"I know. One more week though." Rose promised.

"I hate waiting!" John mumbled, pulling the cover higher. Rose sighed. He was like a 6 year old sometimes. But it's why she loved him.

"I know, I know. But I need you better. We all do. And not just Torchwood. Darren does too." She paused. John sighed, he was defeated. He slid down further onto his pillows, trying not to wince in pain.

"We sign the papers tomorrow." John mumbled quietly. Rose sat up in shock.

"Oh my god! I forgot that!" She whispered. She looked round at John. "How could I forget that we're signing Darren's adoption papers?!" She asked.

"I dunno," John shrugged. "There is a lot going on. You've got work to think about, there's me who's not long been shot. Then you've also got Darren to watch over as well."

"But, this'll be one of the most important things in our lives; Darren's life!"

"Rose, just lie down." John said quietly. He tugged gently at Rose's pj top. Rose slowly led down against her pillows again, mumbling about forgetting and not believing it. "I'll tell you what though…" John said into the silence that had suddenly enveloped them. "He'll defiantly be ours."

Rose's frown turned upside down and her face lit up.

"Finally! It feels like he's always been here." Rose smiled.

"Rose,"

"Yeah?"

"Maybe we should move. I don't want a second bullet tearing through me thank you very much. Or you for that fact." John said, looking at Rose seriously. They had no further news on Amber yet. Just that she had been taking to a higher security prison while she awaited her court date.

"I've been thinking the same." Rose commented. "God knows she might have someone working for her. And she knows where we live. She could have told anyone."

"Exactly." John whispered.

"And perhaps, maybe we should get a house of our own?" Rose whispered. She had been thinking about it for a while. She had lived with her parents long enough, and so had John. Now they were having their own family, Rose thought it was time they got their own place.

"Are you serious?" John asked, pushing himself up onto his elbows. Rose nodded.

"I think that we need our own space. We have our own family now. It's time we thought of Darren." She smiled slightly.

"How do you think your mum'll take it?" John asked, lying back down.

"Dunno. But she won't take it easily, I'll tell you that. I have lived with her the whole of my life." Rose mumbled.

"Well, I know Tony won't take it well. He'll want to come and live with us as well." John laughed slightly which caused Rose to giggle as well.

"I don't want to move to far away from mum and dad. I don't want to go through all the hassle of having to move Darren school. And maybe we should get a house closer to the Torchwood tower."

"Defiantly closer to work. Then we won't have to get up so early."

"You're so lazy!" Rose smirked.

"Hey, it's not my fault that I've fallen customary to 8 hours sleep a night." John playfully argued. Rose shook her head slightly before she moved it back onto John's shoulder. John placed his arm round her yet again and began drawing the Gallifreyan circles on her. Rose closed her eyes, finally feeling sleepy.

"John…"

"Mmmm…"

"Moving house is going to cost a lot…"

"I know…" John mumbled his reply. He could feel Rose's eyes closing. "But shh… lets go to sleep."

John closed his eyes as he felt Rose's eyes shut completely.

"John…"

John opened his eyes and sighed.

"Yes Rose?"

"I love you."

She then fell weak in his arms and started breathing deeply. John shook his head slightly. She was asleep.

"I love you too Rose."

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**So there we have it, again, writers block so not as good as it should be. I'm back at school tomorrow and I bet you anything that as soon as first lesson starts I will have a brilliant idea! Just you wait! :D A few of you have been asking when John and Rose are going to move out into their own place, and we have just found out that soon they will be! :) I hope you did enjoy this! It took me ages! please review!**


	24. Falling Asleep

**i would like to apologize for the long wait for this chapter. Unfortuntaly i have my exams between now and june. so i will not have a lot time to write, although i will take every oppertunity that i get! :) **

**Also, sorry for the shortness of this chapter, it is mainly a filler. Please remember that this is what happened the morning (well, night) after the last chapter! :)**

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**24. Falling Asleep**

Darren sat on Rose's lap, sucking on a lollypop. John was sat beside them, signing his name on an official looking piece of paper. They were sat in an office in his old children's home.

Darren watched as the paper and pen were slid across the table to Rose. Rose picked up the pen and signed her name under John's.

Darren had no idea what was going on – but he knew it was important.

John could feel Darren slowing down to an almost stop. John looked down at his newly adopted son to see Darren's eyes almost closed. John placed his hands under Darren's arms and lifted him up, ignoring the slight pain coming from his chest.

The pain was receding now, if slowly. It had been a while since he had been shot and John was happy enough to go back to work. Although, as last night's conversation had proved, Rose would not allow him. So John tried to use his free time with Darren and Tony.

Darren placed his head on John's shoulder and wrapped his small arms around John's neck. John felt him relax and knew that the small boy had fallen asleep instantly.

It was late; around 9pm. Rose was walking in front of them, having only just noticed they had stopped. When John caught up to her, she smiled lightly.

"D'you want me to take him?" She asked.

"Nah, it's alright. I've got him." John replied.

"But your chest…"

"Is fine," John interrupted her. He smiled as he held out his arm. Rose gripped his hand and together they kept walking down the street.

After they had signed Darren's adoption forms, the three had gone to McDonalds for a bite to eat. They had then taken Darren into a toy store and got him a few new toys to go in his bedroom. Then they went and did a big shop on Jackie's orders. By the time they dropped everything him it was time for them to go back out as they had booked tickets to see 'Jack and the Beanstalk' at the pantomime. It had been a little treat to re-welcome Darren to the family. They were now walking back to the carpark to head home for the evening.

"It's been a long day for him." Rose commented as they crossed the road.

"And me." John yawned. "I'm ready to climb into bed."

"Long day for all of us; I think." Rose said as they approached the carpark.

It went silent apart from the sound of cars rumbling past, heading home for the night. As they reached their car, John pulled the car keys out of his pocket to have them snatched away by Rose.

"I'll drive." She said, eyeing his chest. John rolled his eyes, but made no comment as he pulled open the back door and gently placed Darren into his car seat.

The small boy stirred but did not wake. John strapped him in, pulled on the seatbelt to make sure that it was in securely before he checked the child-lock was still in place. After that, he closed the door. He quietly got in the passenger seat as Rose got in behind the steering wheel. She looked into the back seat and smiled. John rested his head in his hand.

"I'm hungry." He commented.

"You're always hungry." Rose sighed as she started the car.

John reached over and turned the radio on. It played quietly in the background as Rose pulled out of the carpark. The music was soothing and John found himself falling asleep. He often rubbed his eyes, trying to stay awake.

"Okay there, John?" Rose asked with a slight giggle to her tone.

"Fine," John mumbled; his voice heavy with sleep.

When they reached the house, John got out and took the keys from Rose and went to unlock the front door as Rose went to get Darren. Rose carried Darren right up to his bedroom, where she woke him so it was slightly easier to get him changed into his pjs. She tucked him in (by this time he was asleep again), gave him a quick peck on the forehead and went over to the door.

"Goodnight Darren Smith." She said as she flicked off the light and left, closing the door behind her.

She quietly walked back downstairs to see Tony saying goodnight. She smiled at him as she wished him goodnight. She went into the living room to find her parents snuggled up on the sofa, watching a movie.

"Hiya Rose." Came her mother's voice. "Did you have fun darling?"

"Yeah, we did. John more than me though." She smiled.

"We guessed that." Pete replied, nodding his head in the direction of the armchair. John was sat in the chair, head lolled back, mouth wide open. He was breathing deeply. He was asleep.

"I better get him to bed." Rose commented as she went over to wake him.

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**Review, review, review! Also, follow me on twitter: whovians_TARDIS :)**


	25. Why?

**IMSORRYIMSORRYIMSORRYIMSORRY ! I HAVENT DIED GUYS! IM FINE! I just needed a bit of motivation to write this chapter. And when i saw a little boy in town with his dad - i got my motivation. This little boy kept asking his dad tonnes of questions and then wouldnt stop asking why! So this chapter is dedicated to that little boy! Why? Because without him, this chapter wouldnt have been possible! :D**

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**25. Why?**

John smiled as he helped Darren into his car seat. He strapped him in and checked the child lock before he closed the door. Rose was still hugging her parents and saying goodbye. John couldn't blame her, this was (as they say) her first time leaving the nest. When he thought about it, travelling with him didn't really count because she could still go back home.

"Rose, we'll be round in a couple of hours." Pete laughed as he hugged his daughter for the millionth time. "We're coming over for tea, remember?"

"Yeah, but I can't believe we're actually doing this," Rose sighed as John placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"We'll be moving closer in a couple of month." Jackie stated, smiling.

John, Rose and Darren were moving out of the Tyler household. After the events that had unfolded a good few months back now, they didn't exactly feel safe there anymore. Jackie and Pete had also decided to move. They were going to be moving a couple of streets away from John and Rose and looked forward to still seeing each other, every day.

"Uncle John," Came a small voice and a tug at John's trouser leg. John looked down to see his godson Tony. He knelt down so that he was Tony's height and hugged the small boy.

"You okay?" He asked softly.

"Don't leave!" Tony begged.

"We've got to." John smiled sadly. "But you can come and stay whenever you like." John promised him.

"What about now?" Tony asked.

"Not today Tony. We haven't even left yet. In a couple of weeks, yeah?"

"But you said whenever I like!" Tony's eyes filled with tears.

Jackie placed a soothing arm around Tony's shoulders and pulled him in for a hug.

"You better leave." Jackie stated with a smile. "Before I start crying too!" She managed to pull John into an awkward hug around Tony before she did the same to Rose. Pete hugged them both too.

"See you soon!" They all chorused as John and Rose got into the car, packed with their belongings.

"You okay Darren?" Rose asked, turning around in her seat to smile at the young boy.

"Yeah. Can we have McDonalds?" He asked. John laughed.

"We'll see." Rose giggled as she turned back round.

"We've got to get to our new house first." John added.

"Why?" Darren questioned as he looked out at the outside world whizzing past.

"Because we're moving."

"Why?"

"Well, because we wanted to…" John answered as they reached a set of traffic lights.

"Why?"

"You ask a lot of questions don't you Darren." Rose laughed.

"Is grandma coming too?" Darren questioned, referring to Jackie.

"She's coming for tea." Rose confirmed.

"Is she going to live with us?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because she's got her own house." Rose sighed.

"Why?"

"She lives with Granddad and Tony." John tried.

"Yes, but why?"

"Because she does." Rose rolled her eyes.

"Okay."

John thanked the lord when Darren decided to be quiet. All the 'why' questions were getting rather annoying.

After a few minutes of silence, Rose reached over and put the radio on. Darren's favourite song was playing. One Way or Another by One Direction. John rolled his eyes. This song was played everywhere and was rather annoying. But Darren loved it, and ever Rose had to admit it was catchy.

"ONE WAY OR ANOTHER!" Darren yelled, bouncing around in his car seat. Rose chuckled and even John couldn't stop a laugh escaping his lips.

"Can you rewind it?" Darren asked when the song ended. He was so used to seeing it on the TV that he didn't realise you couldn't rewind a radio.

"No, sorry." Rose said.

"Why?"

"Because you can't rewind the radio." Rose answered.

"Why?"

"I dunno."

"Why?"

"Because I don't." Rose sighed.

"Okay."

When they pulled up at another set of traffic lights, they were outside a posh looking house.

"Is that our new house?" Darren asked, pointing it out.

"Nope." John mumbled, looking at it. It was a nice house.

"Why?"

"Our house is better." Rose tried.

"Is it the TARDIS?" At the sound of his old home, John felt a pang of homesickness. He missed that ship. Rose grabbed his hand and squeezed it lightly.

"No, it's not the TARDIS." Rose answered, so John wouldn't need to.

"Why?"

"Because," Rose sighed. "It's just not. Okay?"

"Okay."

They eventually pulled up outside their new house and Rose pointed it out to Darren.

"That's our new house." She told him.

"That one?" Darren pointed at it.

"Yep."

"Why?"

* * *

**So there you have it! HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE! did you all watch the new episode?! It was amazing! **

**I love you all, Wonders! (the new name for all my fans! you're welcome!) **

**REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!**


	26. A Pleasant Surprise

**Well I am an idiot. I did not realise that the last chapter was the 25th chapter and that means WE ARE 1/4 OF THE WAY THROUGH! I love you guys! Thank you for all your amazing support, you are the reason that i keep writing! **

**Any way! Today I am off of school because i am not very well D: Ugh! It's horrible! But i cheered myself up a little by writing this little chappie! We will be seeing a lot more of Karen and Neil now, as they will be becoming big characters. **

**I hope you enjoy!**

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**26. A Pleasant Surprise**

The silence that was surrounding the Torchwood members was unusual. John was sat at Neil's desk with his feet up on the desk. Rose was twiddling her thumbs as she sat at her desk. Heather and Kevin were twiddling around with an alien artifact that John had said would never work again – yet they determined to get it working. Captain Jack looked like he was sleeping; Matthew and Sherry were playing endless hangman games, Patrick was texting and Stanley was handing out coffee for those who wanted it. Neil and Karen were out, they had the morning off – said it was important. They had told John what they were doing, but John was pretending like he didn't know; he didn't want to spoil the surprise for the others.

"John, are you sure you don't know how long their going to be?" Rose asked. She was agitated as Karen was her best friend, yet Karen wasn't sharing anything with her.

"They said they'd be back before lunch… but other than that, nope." John shrugged. He took the coffee off of Stanley. "Thanks Stan," He smiled slightly.

Suddenly, Jack sat up straight.

"Was that the lift?" He asked as everyone strained their ears to listen. And sure enough, the sound of the lift doors opening could be heard. Everyone become awake and alert. Heather and Kevin stopped put down their tools and every single head was turned towards the doorway.

Karen appeared in the doorway with Neil's hand in hers. The two were smiling.

Rose stood cautiously and made her way over to her best friend.

"Karen, is everything all right? John said you had to go somewhere important," She looked at her best friend carefully.

"Yes!" Karen beamed. "Everything's great!" She detached her hand from Neil's and flung her arms around Rose. The other members of the team started to stand and made a semi-circle around the three.

"What's going on?" Rose asked as she pulled out of the hug, smiling at her friend's happy mood. Karen just kept on smiling. Rose looked at Neil who shrugged his shoulders.

"Guys," Neil called. "Me and Karen had a surprise!"

"Ohh goodie!" Matthew exclaimed rubbing his hands together excitedly. "I love surprises!" Jack playfully hit him on the head. "OW!" Matthew rubbed his head as everyone laughed.

"What's the surprise?" Rose asked as the laughter died down. Karen, still not saying anything, held out her left hand. Rose took it and her mouth fell open when she noticed the small diamond ring on Karen's finger. "NO!" She placed her hands to her mouth.

"Yes, Neil asked me to marry him!" Karen exclaimed, throwing her fingers around Neil's waist. Neil smiled and kissed her on the top of the head as everyone cheered.

The two had been going out in secret for a few months now. They felt that if they told anyone then it would break the group apart. Although, they did a bad job at hiding it. The only people to officially know they were a couple were Rose and John, and then John only knew because Rose had told him. But the other month, they had told everyone and no one could be happier for them.

"Congratulations!" Sherry yelled.

The new engaged couple were in the middle of a massive group hug; that weren't uncommon in the Torchwood hub.

"But that's not all, is it?" John asked, finally standing up from Neil's desk. He couldn't help the smile that wouldn't vanish from his face.

"What d'you mean?" Kevin asked, eyebrows raised.

"I'm going to be honest with you here," John stated joining the group. "I had no idea that Neil was going to pop the question. I only knew about the other thing…"

"Other thing…" Rose's smile fell. "What other thing?"

"Don't look so worried!" Neil laughed. "It's good news!"

"Well then, what is it?" Heather was literally rolling back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"I'm pregnant!"

The cheer the erupted from the group was a lot louder than the first.

"THIS CALLS FOR A CELEBRATION!" Jack yelled.

"Congratulations!" Everyone cheered.

2 hours later, Karen and Rose were sat in John's office, chatting. John had the other's working on an unusual energy spike that had cropped up half an hour ago.

"Will you be my maid of honour?" Karen asked, downing the last of her cup of tea.

"Duh!" Rose laughed, sitting in John's seat. "Of course I will! You were mine, were you not?"

"Yeah," Karen paused. "I think Neil wants Matthew to be his best man," The two looked through the glass walls at Matthew. Matthew was the baby of the group and was very clumsy. He was the joker and always put a smile on people's faces.

"Good luck!" Rose joked, laughing. They all loved Matthew really. The Torchwood team were one big happy family. It fell silent between them for a few moments. "Why didn't you tell me in the first place?"

"Well, I thought that… seeing as you lost," Karen stopped. No-one mentioned the baby that Rose had lost, not unless they wanted to watch her break down again. "You know… I thought you might get a little upset,"

"Don't be silly!" Rose smiled slightly. "I'm really pleased for you," She looked out of the glass wall again, this time at Neil. "For both of you."

"I guess, I really just wanted it to be a pleasant surprise."

"Well, it defiantly was!"

"It's too early to tell the sex of the baby," Karen mumbled, her hand dropping to her stomach, where soon enough – a baby bump would be forming. "But will you be the god mother?"

Rose was speechless as she nodded her head. She didn't think she had smiled so much in her one day.

Rose looked at the ceiling as John climbed into the bed next to her.

"What's wrong?" John asked in a 'don't-even-try-and-lie-to-me' tone.

"The events of today," Rose sighed "I should be about 7 months pregnant," She mumbled, turning her head to look at John.

John sighed, her knew that sometime soon after the announcement of Karen being pregnant they would be having this conversation.

"I know," John placed his hand on her shoulder. "And I am so, so sorry," He paused. "But think about it – we wouldn't have Darren if you were,"

Rose nodded and smiled at the thought of her adopted son. She went to move closer to John but suddenly the cover at their feet began to move. John sighed and turned onto his back. Rose giggled.

Suddenly, Darren's head popped up from the covers in between them.

"Hello," He smiled widely, showing his missing front tooth.

"Darren," John couldn't help the smile that tug at his lips. "I thought I put you to bed?"

"Well, you did… but I don't like my new room," He moaned. Rose patted the space between her and John.

"It's okay Darren." She told him as he lay down. "We've only been her two days. And once we unpack everything, your room will look almost the same as it did when we live at grandmas and granddads."

Darren slowly nodded.

"Can I still sleep with you though?" He asked, looking at John. John nodded. It wasn't that he didn't mind Darren sleeping with them, it was just the fact that Darren didn't stop moving, and John always – somehow- ended up with a little foot in his face.

"Yay!" Darren snuggled down under the covers, snuggling into Rose for a hug. John reached over and turned his bedside lamp off, sending the room into darkness.

"It's not like there's any Daleks hiding in your room Darren," John said, before thinking.

"John!" Rose scolded. Now they would never get him to sleep in his own bed!

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**I am quite pleased with this one! I just had to add the daleks into this chapter somewhere, it felt like it was my destiny! Haha! Well i hope you enjoyed it as much as i did! Please review and let me know how it was! :)**


	27. The BabySitter

**Hello guys! Well, it's been a long time. But again, school got in the way and whatnot. But fear not! I am now currently on study leave! YAY! sadly I have my English exam on Monday and then another English exam on Thursday... so please don't expect an update before Thursday! After Thursday, my next exam isn't until June! So I have plenty of time to write and revise! YAY! **

**I originally wrote half of this a while back, but then I went and had tea and didn't save it. When I came back, I stupidly (please don't ask me why) shut down the web browser, loosing all my hard work! But I rewrote it, and here it is! Please enjoy!**

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**27. The Babysitter**

John stood in the kitchen, cooking. Normally, Rose did the cooking - but since she was still getting ready to go out tonight, John was cooking Darren's tea. John and Rose were going out for a meal. They weren't celebrating anything. But Captain Jack had been moaning for weeks that he had only met Darren once and hardly knew him. He pestered John and Rose to let him babysit Darren while the couple went out somewhere, and Rose had given in to him - when John had specifically said not to. Yes - THEE Captain Jack Harkness was going to be babysitting the Smith's son.

Sighing, John turned the cooker off as he was certain everything had finished cooking. He looked up at the wall clock to see it was 10 to six. John was 20 minutes late. "DARREN!" John called out as he began to dish the fish-fingers onto a plate. He pulled a face at the fish sticks, the other Him's new incarnation had a fascination with them dipped in custard. It had put John off for life. The sound of someone moving around above John could be heard, before the pitter-patter of little feet coming down the stairs. John began to cut up the fish-fingers as Darren rushed into the kitchen.

"Is tea done? What are we having?" The small boy asked, running over to John's feet.

"I've already told you, Darren. Me and Mum are going out for a meal. Only you're going to be eating." John smiled down at the small boy. He was tiny. He was turning 6 soon but everyone looked at him and thought he was 3 or 4. "And you're having fish fingers and chips."

"Goodie!" Darren jumped up and down in excitement. Once the fish-fingers had been cut up, John placed a small amount of chips on the plate and took the plate over to the table, situated in the middle of the big room. He placed it on the table in front of a chair before picking Darren up and sitting him in the seat.

"Do you want some ketchup?" John asked, heading to the fridge, knowing Darren would say yes.

"Yes please." Darren smiled. John brought the tomato ketchup over to the table and placed a small dollop on the side of the plate. If Darren had loads, it would end up everywhere and John would have to find something else to wear out. He then handed Darren a small knife and fork (they had his name on them) and smiled as Darren proceeded to eat. John then made Darren a small drink of squash and placed it close enough so Darren could still reach it, but far enough so it couldn't be spilt. He had learnt how to do that the hard way. He then sat down, with a mug of tea as he watched Darren eat his food hungrily.

John looked back over to the clock, It was now nearing six o'clock. Jack was supposed to have been here half an hour ago. As if on queue, the doorbell rang through the house. "Daddy... there's someone at the door," Darren mumbled with a smile. "I know sport," John smiled standing up. He made his way to the front door and pulled it open.

"I'm SO sorry I'm late! I lost track of time... and kind of forgot too... but I didn't mean too! I'm sorry! Please don't kill me... or fire me..." Jack trailed off when he noticed John stood there emotionless.

"It's fine, come in." John welcomed the man into the house.

"I'm SO sorry! Please forgive me!" Jack pleaded as John closed the door.

"Jack," John smiled. "It's fine! Honestly! Rose still isn't ready yet - so it's okay." He paused. "Just don't let it happen again." He added, a fake seriousness to his tone. The two then started laughing and embraced each other in a manly hug.

"Daddy?" Darren's little voice broke the two apart. John coughed slightly looking down at his adopted son.

"Darren, you should be eating your dinner," John said, raising an eyebrow slightly at the boy.

"Okay," Darren skipped back into the kitchen.

"Go and help him back into his seat, Jack. He's still too small to get up himself," John smiled slightly as Jack followed Darren into the kitchen.

John went over to the bottom of the stairs.

"ROSE! JACK'S HERE NOW! ARE YOU READY?" He yelled.

"YEAH! GIVE ME A MINUTE!" She yelled back. John sighed happily and went into the kitchen.

"So, kiddo..." Jack said towards Darren. "Do you remember me?"

"Yes." Darren said, shoving a few chips into his mouth. "You're Captain Jack Harkness,"

"Darren, don't eat with your mouth full," John scolded, picking up his now empty mug that was on the table.

"Sorry," Darren mumbled, swallowing his food.

"And Captain Jack is Uncle Jack to you." John added as he placed the mug in the dishwasher.

"Really?" Jack turned to John.

"Yeah, really," John smiled at him.

"Cool! I'm an uncle!"

At that moment Rose walked in. She was wearing a tight blue, sparkly dress that stopped just above her knee. Her hair was in loose ringlets around her face. She had a touch of make up o, but not tonnes. On her feet were a pair of simple 1" heals, blue and sparkly to match the dress. She held a silver clutch bag in her hand, a smile on her lips.

Jack, inappropriately, wolf-whistled.

"God Rose, if you weren't married to John... I would defiantly be trying to get in your pan-" Jack started, but was cut off by John.

"Jack, may I remind you of little ears please." He said, loudly.

"Right, sorry." Jack said casually.

"What was he going to say?" Darren asked, curiously as he finished his meal.

"Nothing for you to worry about," Rose smiled walking over to Darren and lifting him up out the chair. She put him on her hip and smiled. "You're getting a bit big to do this with," She smiled at him, brushing his hair to the left slightly, so it was out of his eyes. "No I'm not," Darren smiled.

"Rose, you look stunning," John stated with a smile. "But uh... we're only going out for a meal."

"Is a girl not allowed to get dressed up nicely for a meal with her husband?" Rose asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Course, but uh... nevermind..." John sighed at the look Rose was giving him.

"Jack, you do realise there are rules," Rose said, turning to the man sat at the table.

"Okay, shoot. What are the rules?" Jack asked, knowing that some (if not most) will be broken.

"Bed by eight." Rose stated causing a loud 'WHAT?' to come from Darren. "No fizzy, sugar or ice-cream... you'll never be able to get him to bed."

"Seriously Jack, trust me, I learnt the hard way. We'll also know if he's had any 'cause he'll wake up in the morning really tried. And if that happens - you wont be baby sitting again," John added for good measure.

"You can watch films," Rose began. "But for god sake, make sure it's rated U. I don't need you showing him an 18." Rose sighed. Jack playfully saluted.

"Yes mam!"

This caused Darren to laugh.

"And please, don't do anything stupid. If anything happens, I am holding you responsible," Rose threw Jack a death glare. "Right, are we going to go?" Rose directed this last part to John.

"Yep," John smiled.

"Right you," Rose smiled turning her head to look at Darren who was still on her hip. "You be a good boy for Uncle Jack, okay?" Darren nodded. "Good boy. Come on, give me a kiss," She smiled as his small lips pecked her check. She kissed his cheek back. "We'll be home later, okay?"

"Okay," Darren smiled as Rose put him down. "Well then, see you later."

"Bye," Darren waved slightly.

"See ya, sport," John smiled, ruffling Darren's hair a bit.

"Daddy!" Darren laughed, trying to flatten his hair again.

"Jack, I'm trusting you," John said, pointing to the man, still at the table.

"You can count on me," Jack smiled.

Everyone said their goodbyes and Jack held Darren on his hip as they waved the car away. When they were back inside, Jack closed the door and placed Darren on the floor.

"Okay kiddo... what d'you want to do?" Jack asked.

"Watch cartoons!" Darren yelled happily, running into the living room.

* * *

When the clock ticked 8 o'clock, Jack sighed.

"Time for bed kiddo," He said sadly. He had enjoyed watching cartoon's with Darren for a couple of hours.

"What? That's not fair!" Darren argued, as the cartoon ended.

"Mum's orders, not mine." Jack smiled slightly, standing up. "Come on," He held out his hand to Darren, who took it. Together they walked up the stairs, towards Darren's room.

Jack helped the small boy put on his clothes and then helped him into bed.

"Goodnight Darren," "Uncle Jack?" "Yeah?" "Can you read me a bed time story?" "What about?" Jack had never told a story before. "Aliens and time travel and the Doctor," Darren smiled. "Um... okay?" Jack cleared his throat. "One day, the Doctor was working in his surgery when an alien walked in. The alien was green and had 3 eyes," This made Darren laugh, as he eagerly listened. "It had 7 arms and 9 noses." Jack pretended to be shocked. "The Doctor asked for the alien's name and the alien's name was Larry!" Jack used his hands, as if 'Larry' was in lights.

"An alien called Larry?" Darren pulled a face before laughing.

"The Doctor asked Larry the alien what was the matter and Larry took hold of the Doctor's hand and took him back in time to see. Poor Larry had walked home from school, 10 miles, in loads and loads of snow. He didn't have a jumper on, or a coat, or even a pair of gloves. He was just in trousers and a t-shirt. Then when he got home, there was no hot water to have a warm shower and poor Larry had to have a cold one. Larry soon started sneezing and getting 10 runny noses," Darren interrupted Jack.

"You said he had 9 noses!"

"Did I? Okay, Larry soon had 9 runny noses. Larry had a cold. Larry then took the Doctor back to the real time, back to the doctor's surgery and the Doctor gave Larry some cold medicine to help him get better. Larry soon felt a lot better and sent the Doctor some flowers as a thank - you present. But the Doctor was allergic to flowers and started sneezing all over them!" Jack paused. "The end." He smiled, happy with his story.

"That story was funny!" Darren laughed. "Daddy tells good stories too!"

"Really, what stories does Daddy tell you?"

"Daddy's the Doctor. And he's a time-lord,"

Jack froze. How did he...?

"And he fights Dalek's and cybermen and sl-sll-slteen..."

Jack was confused, he gulped. Okay, cybermen, he could live with. But this world didn't meet Daleks or Sletheen (Slteen as Darren had just called them) for another couple, hundred years. What the hell was going on?

"And he flys around space and time in the TARDIS!"

Okay, so Darren knew about Daleks, Cybermen, Sletheen, Time Lords, TARDIS?! Jack blinked a few times. He gulped again.

"Wow, you have a lot of adventures." He stood up, trying to hide his shakiness. "Well then goodnight," He walked over to the door and went to flick of the light, but Darren called his name.

"Uncle Jack,"

"Yeah?" Jack breathed quietly. He didn't know why, but he wanted to throw up through the amount of knowledge this boy had.. and it all came from 'Daddy's bedtime stories'.

"Are you from the future? Can you travel in time?"

Jack decided to play the dumb 21st century human that he was supposed to be.

"No, but I wish."

"Oh. Daddy say's you had a vortex minippy-thing. And it lets you travel in time."

This scared John most of all. No-one knew about him...

"And he say's you're from the 51st century."

Jack nearly fainted on the spot. He had never told anyone where he was from.. only Ianto knew... and Ianto was dead...

"Good night Darren," Jack said sternly flicking the light off and closing the door. He was DEFIANTLY having words with John later.


	28. Recognition

**Hi! So sorry for the long wait! It wasn't meant to be this long! I realised that I and to do so much revision! :( but thankfully, all of my exams are over and I can now focus on writing! YAY! which should mean faster updates! WAHOO! This chapter is rubbish! it's boring! So sorry about that, but I felt it wasn't fair to leave you hanging and writers block was stopping me from getting anything good down :( but I did update! :D enjoy! :)**

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**28. Recognition.**

Jack watched John from his desk. John was sat looking over some paperwork. Everyone had just got back from a mission and John was looking over the paperwork quickly before he put it away into storage for the history records. Everyone was ecstatic, like they usually were once they'd completed a mission, unless there was a sad ending. But thankfully this particular mission had ended happily.

John nodded to himself before taking the paperwork (it was probably his mission report – everyone else's didn't have to be done for a few days) over to the filing cabinet where they kept all the history of the going's on in Torchwood. He easily slid the paperwork into its rightful place before smiling to himself. He then walked over to the office door, which was open and stuck his head out.

"Well done guys!" He then stepped out of his office properly, walking past all of the desks, till he was right at the front. He sat on the edge of Patrick's desk, like he normally did. "Before I let you all go early… any questions?" He always did the same routine every time they completed a mission. Someone usually had a question, before they could leave.

Surprisingly, no-one voiced a question. Jack was biding his time, trying to decide whether or not he should ask the question in front of everyone, or just confine John.

"Alright then…" John was cut off by Jack.

"I have a question," Everyone turned to look at Jack. Jack never asked the questions!

"Um… sure," John said, raising his eyebrows, suggesting to Jack that he asked his question.

"Can we have the truth?" Jack asked. John's eyebrows knitted together in confusion as he quickly glanced at Rose, who shrugged her shoulders.

"Jack, what're you on about?" Neil asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"Okay – I don't want to sound rude – but I really want the truth," Jack began. "I babysat Darren last night. Had fun, I might add. But while I was getting him ready for bed, he asked for a bedtime story about the Doctor, an alien and time-travel."

Rose paled and looked at John, who in turn was sharing her shocked look.

"So, what did you tell him?" John asked, looking over to Jack.

"A story about a three-eyed alien who could travel in time who went to the Dr's." Jack mumbled. "But then, he said that your stories," He nodded his head towards John. "Were about Daleks and Cybermen, and Slitheen."

John nervously chuckled.

"What are Slitheen?" Heather asked.

"Aliens," Jack answered for her. He quickly turned his attention back to Jack. "But the thing is… this world isn't supposed to see these types of aliens for centuries."

It went silent for a moment, the cheeriness gone from the room.

"Wait a minute…" Stanley mumbled. "If that's the case… how do you know about them?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Yeah… maybe you're not telling us the truth either Jack." Kevin mused.

"Well…" Jack trailed off. This was going wrong. The team weren't supposed to find out about him being from the future! "I… um…"

"Jack," Rose began, catching everyone's attention. "Captain Jack Harkness is from the 51st century."

"WHAT?!" Jack yelled as everyone began to laugh. "How d'you know that?!"

Rose looked at John, hoping for a little help. The room had fallen silent again as everyone realised what Jack had just said.

"You're not actually agreeing with her?" Sherry asked sceptically. "You're not really from the 51st century, are you?"

"Actually, yes I am!" Jack shot at her.

"Okay everyone, calm down!" John called over the noise. "I think it's time for some explanations." John stood and walked over to Rose's desk. "Me and Rose haven't exactly been completely honest with you all."

"What?" Karen asked in barely a whisper.

"Karen," Rose started, scared to lose her best friend over all of this. Jack now wished he had asked in private. "You, and everyone here, know about our whole lives. Except for one major part of it."

"You lied to us?" Karen asked, louder this time. She looked close to tears. Neil, who was stood beside her put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Okay everyone!" John called again. "This was going to come out sooner or later. Yes me and Rose have lied to you. But then again, neither has Jack." He turned to the captain. "So don't think you can point the finger at us and get away with it."

Jack smiled guiltily at Jack.

"How do you know about me then?" Jack asked.

"We used to know you," Rose spoke.

"Don't be ridiculous." Jack spoke.

"It's the truth Jack." John stated. He then began speaking to the whole group. "Now before I begin, I want to make it perfectly clear that Rose is 100% human."

"Wait… what are you saying?" Sherry interrupted.

"I'm…" John paused. "I'm not… human." It went silent as everyone took this in. "I'm half alien."

Everyone gasped, except Jack who stood up, reaching for his gun.

"Hold up Captain!" John called. He was not in any rush to get shot soon. "I'm still half human."

Jack's hand rested on his gun, although he didn't pick it up. Rose also stood and rushed over to John and stood beside him. John placed his arm around Rose's shoulder.

"In fact…" John continued. "I'm more human, than alien."

"What species?" Jack asked, hesitantly.

John raised his head, proudly, before speaking slowly;

"Time Lord."

Jack's eyes widened as he seemed to stop breathing before taking a seat.

"You can't be… they we're all destroyed! All of them; killed. The Last Great Time War. Wiped them all out." Jack rushed.

"I know," John mumbled sadly.

"Wait a second," Matthew raised his eyebrow. "What's a Time Lord?" He voiced everyone's thoughts.

"A superior race of beings." Jack spoke before John could. "They're much more intelligent than us… they can travel through time… they regenerate (sort of like they change their bodies when they die)" Jack explained at the confused looks he received for the last point. "They basically run the universe. All of time and space rests in their hands."

"Yes," John sighed. "I'm a Time Lord. But not from this world."

"Oh don't tell us," Neil joked with a laugh. "Next you'll be saying you're from a parallel universe," He laughed. Everyone else joined in, until they saw the serious look on John's face.

"You're not?" Jack asked, shock written all through his features.

John nodded. "Both me and Rose are," He looked at Rose who gave his hand a small squeeze to show she supported him before he went on, explaining about everything. From bits of childhood, through meeting Jack, right up until Canary Warf.

"Please don't hate us," Rose said once everything had been explained. "We just didn't know how to tell you all,"

Soon everyone was hugging and laughing and forgiving. John was happy everything was back to normal again.

That was until a beeping noise could be heard, coming from Heather's computer. She rushed over there, John hot on her heals. John read the screen over her shoulder.

"Sorry gang; looks like you can't go home just yet!" He smiled. "We have a rouge alien to catch!"

Everyone smiled as they grabbed their gear and were out of the door before you could scream Gallifrey.


	29. Spelling

**Hiya guys! Here's another update! I am proud to say I've got my mojo back and today have actually accomplished writing two chapters! however, I did originally write a different chapter 29, but then decided to have that chapter 30 because I wrote something in the next chapter that gave me the idea for this chapter! - I hope that makes sense! haha! Anyway's I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's a LOT longer than any other chapters and it took up about 5 pages in word! opps! :D**

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**29. Spelling**

"I have a pounding headache!" Rose mumbled, dropping her head into her hands.

"I know," John chuckled. "You keep on about it," He smiled as she looked up at him, annoyed.

"And I have to help Darren learn his spellings." She mumbled.

"Oh, I didn't know he had spellings." John mused out loud.

"And he has his book to read," Rose sighed.

Darren was currently being taught at school how to read and write. He was one of the first in his class who learnt to read. He wasn't great at it, but he was sent home with a different book to read every week. He also could write his name, even if it wasn't that neat. He was a fast learner when it came to reading and writing. He was obviously naturally going to be good at English. Now that John thought about it, he had quite a good vocabulary.

"Why don't you lie on the sofa or go up to bed for an hour or two?" John suggested. "I'll help Darren do his spellings and reading."

"Really?" Rose looked up at him.

"Yeah. And you can take some more tablets now by the way." John commented as he noted the time.

"Great." Rose stood from the kitchen table and made her way to the cupboard that housed the medicine tub. She pulled out two aspirin and took the before she gulped down some water. "I'm going to kick Darren in off the sofa," She joked lightly. John nodded and in a few minutes, Darren slumped into the kitchen with his book bag in hand.

"Mummy says it's time to read." He mumbled as John helped him climb onto the seat next to him.

"Yep, it is…"

20 minutes, Darren had read his daily three pages (he seemed to struggle with it today) and went to get off the seat to go and watch more cartoons.

"Hold on sport." John called, stopping him. "I thought you had some spellings to learn?"

"I already know how to spell my name!" Darren moaned. John raised his eyebrows and fished everything out of Darren's book-bag. There was a letter about a trip to the zoo, the banana that John had given Darren that morning for break (John grumbled to himself about the fact that Darren hadn't eaten it), Darren's reading book and his green book that was used to record his reading and used to record important information. John opened the green book to find that Darren's teacher had in fact written down a few words for Darren to learn for the spelling test in two days.

1. The

2. And

3. Me

4. You

5. Get

"Come on Darren, you do have spellings," John told him putting the book down. He pointed to each word and asked Darren to read them. When Darren had accomplished this John stood and retrieved a piece of paper and a pencil from the living room. Only, when he came back into the kitchen Darren was no-where in sight. John sighed and placed the equipment on the table before he bent down to see Darren hiding beneath it.

"Come on Darren. Don't mess around. You've got to learn them sometime." John said softly.

"I don't wanna," Darren moaned, pouting.

"Come on! Get out from under the table," John stood and waited. After a minute, it was clear Darren wasn't moving. "Darren," John's voice turned formal. "I said get out from under the table."

Slowly Darren stood up in front of John.

"Good. Now, are you ready to learn your spellings?"

"No!" Darren said stubbornly, crossing his arms. "I want to watch Bob the Builder!"

"Well tough!" John stated. "You can watch Bob the Builder after you've learnt your spellings."

"But I'm tiered." Darren wined.

"Now you're just making excuses!" John said.

"I don't wanna!" Darren replied.

"Darren," John said firmly.

"I don't wanna!" He yelled at John.

"Don't yell at me!" John yelled back. Instantly the small boy's eyes welled with tears. John wanted to hug the boy and tell him that everything was going to be okay. But he told himself he couldn't as Darren needed to learn. He would just apologise for yelling at him after he had at least attempted to learn his spellings.

"What's going on?" Rose's voice sounded from the doorway. John turned to her and rolled his eyes. Darren was sobbing quietly to himself.

"Darren refuses to learn his spellings." John stated.

"Darren," Rose said firmly.

"It's not fair!" Darren yelled again.

"What did I just say about yelling?" John shot at him.

Darren burst into even more tears, sobbing louder this time.

"Be quiet Darren!" Rose said, gripping her head in annoyance, where her headache was only getting worse.

This caused Darren to stomp his feet a few times, before he fell to the floor – landing on his bum, causing him to cry even louder. He then began hitting the floor with his tiny fists.

John and Rose both looked at each other, not expecting the temper tantrum that Darren was having in front of them. Rose had to sit down at the kitchen table, her head killing her.

John walked over to Darren and placed his hands under Darren's arms and picked him up and stood him back on the floor, holding him up so he didn't decide to fall to the floor again. Little Darren just screamed even more.

"Stop it!" John said loudly, quietening Darren a little. "Stop it right now!"

Darren wriggled around in John's grip, slipping out of it.

"Oi!" John called as he realised Darren was walking over towards the table where he collapsed on the floor again, next to Rose. He then began waving his arms around, his screaming getting louder again.

John watched as he then turned to Rose and hit her on the leg. He could tell it wasn't hard and could tell Rose hadn't been hurt. But his anger boiled, and so did Rose's.

Rose gabbed his wrist, causing him to stop waving it around and stood up.

"STOP!" She yelled, almost silencing Darren immediately. "I thought you were a big boy?!" She continued to yell at him. Darren's face was completely tear stained and his eyes showed no shortage of tears. "You don't hit people Darren! It hurts!"

"I'm sorry!" Darren wailed, trying to pry Rose's fingers from his wrist. She wasn't holding him tightly.

"But that's the thing Darren," Rose's voice lowered from her yelling, her voice staying firm. "You can't just hit someone and then say sorry! Before you say sorry to me, I want you to think about what you just did and why it was wrong!"

"I'm sorry!" Darren wailed again.

"Go and sit on the naughty step Darren," John said darkly.

This caused both Darren and Rose to freeze. Rose because she could tell that John was really angry, just by the tone in his voice. And Darren, because he had never had to sit on the naughty step before…

"NO!" Darren yelled.

"NOW!" John yelled back at him. Darren slumped in defeat as Rose let his wrist go. Darren slowly walked out the room, John watching him as he went over the stairs and sat on the third one up. "And don't you even dare think about moving before I say so!" John said firmly. Darren placed his head into his hands and cried to himself.

John turned back to look at Rose who was staring at John shocked.

"I'm sorry, he went way across the line this time," John mumbled sitting down at the table also.

"No, I agree… it's just that… well you never get that angry. It even scares me," Rose trembled. John placed an arm around her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I just… he needs to learn," John breathed.

"It was unacceptable." Rose agreed. "I didn't think you had it in you," She mumbled, rubbing her temples.

"Neither did I," John closed his eyes. It went silent in the room for a few more minutes.

"Why don't you go back and lie on the sofa?" John suggested.

"Actually, do you mind if I go and kip for an hour?" Rose asked.

"No, not at all." John smiled.

"Thanks," Rose stood and walked out of the kitchen. "Uh…John?" She called back into the room.

"Yeah?"

"Darren… He's not on the step,"

John rushed up and was at the bottom of the stairs in next to no time.

"Darren!" John yelled out, obviously frustrated. There came a squeak from the cupboard under the stairs, where they kept all the coats and shoes.

"Can I leave you to deal with it?" Rose pleaded. John nodded as he went to the cupboard and pulled it open.

There was Darren standing in between the coats.

"I thought I told you not to move from the naughty step until I said you could!" John said, reaching forward and taking Darren's hand and leading him out of the cupboard and back to the stairs.

"I'm sorry!" Darren cried.

"Yeah? Well then, show me that you really are by sitting on the naughty step," He pointed to it and Darren grumbled something inaudible before he sat on the third step up. "Stay there until I say so,"

A few minutes later, John was making himself a cup of tea while listening out for Darren. He was sobbing quietly again and hadn't moved for 6 minutes. John had originally only planned to leave him on there for 10 minutes, but then he had hid in the cupboard and John had decided to restart his time. 4 more minutes and the boy could leave and go up to his bedroom and do as he wished.

But as John finished making his tea, the sobbing had stopped and the unmistakeable sound of the fifth step being stepped on could be heard.

"Darren," John called out, mentally restarting Darren's timer.

"What?" Darren's voice sounded, it was deeper than normal as it was laced with tears. "I'm not moving," He protested. John stuck his head out of the kitchen doorway to see him sat on the 6th step.

"Darren," John raised his eyebrows. "I'm not stupid, now move back down and we'll start your time again." At this Darren groaned. "We can do this all day if you wish Darren," John suggested, sipping his tea. Darren moved down the stairs so he was back on the third step. John watched Darren for three minutes, thinking everything over. That was twice now he had asked Darren not to move, but he had disobeyed him. "Oh and you can go to bed early tonight without watching cartoons," John said simply.

"What?" Darren cried loudly.

"I asked you to sit there _twice _and you didn't listen," John paused as he watched the tears start to fall from the small boy's eyes again. "So are you going to sit there or should I also take away your DS?"

"No," Darren cried again.

"Well then, stay there," And with that John turned into the living room. Almost as soon as John had left him on the stairs, Darren resumed his earlier screaming. John could just imagine the tears falling rapidly from his eyes. John breathed deeply, trying not to get angry again. The boy would tire himself out eventually.

10 minutes later the screaming had not ceased.

"JOHN! SHUT HIM UP BEFORE I LOOSE IT!" Rose screamed. John rushed up to the stairs where Darren was now silent. John looked up to see Rose stood looking over the bannister, not at all looking well.

"Sorry," John smiled apologetically. Rose huffed before she stormed back down the landing. John looked at Darren who shrunk away. "Mummy isn't very well Darren, and you screaming it just making it worse, now be quiet for a little bit and I might let you off,"

John then stood and watched Darren who was still and quiet for 10 minutes before telling him to go up to his bedroom quietly.

Later that night, after John had put Darren to bed (half an hour earlier with no cartoons), John flopped onto the sofa beside Rose. Her headache slightly better.

"You know," Rose stated quietly. "In a way, he got what he wanted in the end,"

"What d'you mean?" John asked, flicking through the TV channels.

"He didn't do his spellings,"

She looked up at John, who in turn looked back at her before they burst into laughter.

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**So there you have it. I actually enjoyed writing this hapter as I enhoyed writing Darren being naughty. I did however feel sorry for Darren. How could John take away his cartoon time before bed? When I was his age, that was my usual punishment! NO TV BEFORE BED! is what my Mum always used to say to me. And then I used to scream the place down! Also, I asked my mum about my reading and writing when I was that age, and she told me exactly what I wrote down about Darren (one of the first to start reading in my class and that he would be obviously great at English) - and d'you know what... I was great at English... was in the top set and everything! :) **

**Anyway's I would like to say that I wrote this chapter because... well.. Darren is 5 years old and, well, every 5 year old does something naughty like refuse to learn their spellings! ;) But I felt we had seen too much goodie goodie Darren and felt we needed to see a little rebellious side to him! **

**Haha! well, like I said, I feel sorry for Darren. **

**But anyway! Thank's for reading! :D don't forget to review! **


	30. A Treasured Belonging

**Wahoo! Here's the next update! :D**

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**30. A Treasured Belonging**

Darren watched from the kitchen doorway as his parents talked in hushed whispers about something.

"Rose, you can't do that!" John whispered. Neither adult knew that Darren was watching them. He was, after all, supposed to be watching TV.

"It's falling to bits John. It's dirty, old… god knows how long he's had it! But it defiantly looks older than him!" Rose whispered back.

"Come on Rose! How would you like me to take a treasured belonging away from you?" John shot at her quietly.

"Good luck trying to find something then because you're all I need John! As long as I've got you, I'll be happy," Rose stated a little louder than a whisper.

There was a pause as John's heart swelled. He smiled and cupped her cheek with his hand.

"And you're my world." John mumbled, rubbing his thumb over her cheek. Rose placed her own hand over John's much larger one. "But you can't take that bear from Darren."

Rose fidgeted uncomfortably, because she knew he was right. Darren was attached to his bear. But it was old, dirty, and Rose had a feeling it had been passed down to him when he had gone into his first Children's home. She bit her lip and sighed.

"What if we got him a new one?" She asked in a whisper. Darren was only in the next room. John sighed loudly as he rolled his eyes and dropped his hand from Rose's cheek.

"You'll break his heart," John stated turning his back to his wife, to find Darren stood in the doorway. "Darren?" He asked slowly. Upon hearing her adopted son's name, Rose turned to look at him too.

"What's wrong?" He asked as he walked towards John, who picked him up and put him on his hip.

"Nothing Sport. Mummy just has a big decision to make." He then carried the small boy out of the kitchen, stopping in the doorway and turning back to look at Rose. "And if she decides to do the wrong thing, Daddy's not going to be happy." He said it as if he were talking to Darren, but he had directed it to Rose. Rose sighed as they walked out of the kitchen.

"What does she have to decide?" Darren asked as John placed him back on the sofa, where SpongeBob was playing on the TV. He sat next to the small boy who grabbed his teddy bear from the cushion where he had left it.

"Nothing to worry about," John ruffled his hair and Darren smiled. He then frowned. "What's wrong?" John asked, his voice laced with worry.

"Are you mad with mummy?" Darren asked quietly, the tears brimming his eyes.

"What? No." John softened as he pulled the five year old closer to him. "What made you thing that?"

"You sounded cross with her. You get cross with me sometimes, and…" Darren couldn't help it and burst into tears. John's heart broke. He buried the boy into him in a big hug. He shushed him quietly.

"I am cross with mummy." He mumbled into Darren's hair.

"Why?" Darren asked, breaking out of the hug and looking up at his adopted father.

"Because she wants to do something that I don't think she should do." John mumbled, wiping Darren's face clear of the tear tracks, but the tears still kept coming.

"Are you going to make her sit on the naughty step?" Darren asked, earning a laugh from John.

"No," He smiled.

"But you make me sit on the naughty step," He mumbled.

"Yes, but that's when you get angry and you hit mummy. Remember?"

Darren looked down, ashamed.

"I didn't mean to!" He broke into tears again! "I said sorry!"

"I know," John hugged the boy again. He sighed. He rarely told Darren off, he hated to. Yes he would scold him, Rose did to – even more so that John. But only once had John had to make Darren sit on the 'naughty step'.

John knew Rose was watching from the kitchen doorway. He could hear her shuffling. She felt guilty, he knew it.

"Come on sport. Me and mummy are still friends!" John said leaning forward carefully to grab a tissue from the box that rested on the coffee table in front of him. He gave it to the boy who wiped his now runny nose with it. "Hey come one," John said quietly. "Smile!" He then broke into his big famous, contagious smile, causing Darren to laugh slightly and smile too.

Suddenly the doorbell rang, causing all three heads to turn to look at the front door.

"That'll be mum," Rose sighed. "I'll get it," Rose then walked over to the front door and pulled it open to view a very happy Jackie. "Hi mum!" She pulled Jackie Tyler into a hug who returned it.

"Rose. How are you?" Jackie asked walking into the house with Tony trailing behind her, his hand gripped in hers.

"I'm good thanks!" Rose smiled, hiding her guilt.

"Darren!" Tony yelled, ripping his hand from Jackie's and running into the living room and jumping onto the sofa next to his adopted nephew.

"Hey Tony," Darren mumbled, snuggling into John a little more.

"Oh yeah, just ignore me Tony!" John said, it obvious he was messing around.

"Sorry Uncle John! But why's Darren crying?"

"I'm not crying!" Darren mumbled.

"He's just upset s'all," John sighed. "Why don't you take Tony up to see your new room Darren?" He suggested. At this, Darren's face lit up. This was the first time Tony had been in the Smith house.

"Okay!" And with that both boys were up the stairs like a shot.

John chuckled and stood up.

"Are you gunna be alright with Tony?" Jackie was asking Rose.

"Yes mum! We wouldn't have invited him over if we weren't." Rose laughed slightly.

"Alright. If you're sure." Jackie shook her head slightly. "Honestly, I think you're mad." Jackie laughed. "Anyway, here's his overnight bag." Jackie said handing it over to Rose, who handed it to John, who placed it on the floor by the sofa. "Thanks for this," Jackie sighed, pulling Rose into another hug.

"Honestly Jackie, its fine." John smiled, before he too was pulled into a hug.

"Well, I better be off. Pete's gunna be wondering what's taking me so long. Says he's taking me somewhere fancy tonight!" She smiled brightly.

"Ohh! Mum!" Rose laughed. "I wish this lump would do that for me!" She said, jabbing her thumb in John's direction.

"Excuse me?!" John pretended to be hurt. Everyone laughed.

"Have fun mum!" Rose called after her mother as Jackie left.

They waved Jackie off before closing the front door.

"I'm sorry," Rose rushed. John smirked.

"I forgive you… just as long as you let him keep the bear."

"Yes," Rose nodded.

"He would hate you for the rest of his life it you take it off of him." John reasoned with her, pulling her into a hug.

After a while, Rose went to put tea on, and John walked into the living room to pick Tony's overnight bag up and take it upstairs with him. That was until he spotted Darren's teddy bear, still on the sofa. It was dirty, he'd admit that. And yes, it looked older than he did. He picked the bear up.

"Hey Rose," He walked into the kitchen with the bear.

"Yeah?" She asked, placing a bowl of cold beans into the microwave.

"Perhaps, if we gave it a wash?" He suggested, holding the bear out to her. She looked at it before wiping her hands and taking the bear. She nodded and they smiled at each other.

Later on, while the boys were happily munching on chicken nuggets, Rose took the bear out of the washing machine. She smiled. It looked as good as new.

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**don't forget to review! **


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